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.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke@world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) Events
---------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
******
-------
Index
--------
******
Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.
----------------------------
Monday, February 15
----------------------------
10am FebFest - How to Build a City in Six Days: Community Design Showcase
-----------------------------
Tuesday, February 16
-----------------------------
12pm Sam Feist, CNN
12pm Climate change and viticulture. Impacts and adaptations
12pm Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web
12pm Tuesday Seminar Series: "From Political Polarization to Protest Escalation: The 2013 Events in Brazil and Turkey in Comparative Perspective"
12:30pm Energy Transitions in Germany and Japan Five Years after Fukushima
4pm What is Islamic in the Islamic State?
4:30pm Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Sallie (Penny) Chishom
6pm How to Increase Energy Access in Off-grid Communities
7pm Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty
--------------------------------
Wednesday, February 17
--------------------------------
7:30am February Boston Sustainability Breakfast
12pm Animal Law Week - Direct Democracy and Animal Protection
12pm Zika: Science, Politics, and Policy-Making
12pm Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine: Symbolic Politics and their Implications for Russia's Geopolitical Stance in the World
12pm Schools, Courts, and Civic Participation: Enforcing the Constitutional Obligation to Prepare All Students to be Capable Citizens
12:30pm China's Innovation in Urbanization: Using Low Carbon Community Pilot as an Example
1pm Jill Abramson: Election 2016: Is There Enough Quality Campaign Coverage?
4pm Alexis de Tocqueville Lecture on American Politics
4pm Kelman Seminar: Beyond the Headlines - Understanding and Misunderstanding Islam
4pm The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State
4:10pm Black Politics and Gun Violence
6:30pm ArtScience @ Le Lab Lecture Series: Responsibility, Art & Science of Intentional Extinction, De-Extinction & Aging
6:30pm Online Media Lightning Talks at the MIT Media Lab
7:30pm Bread & Puppet Theater: The Seditious Conspiracy Theater Presents ...
----------------------------
Thursday, February 18
-----------------------------
11am Nicco Mele
11:30am App Launch: Harvard of Yesteryear
12:45pm Business Is an Adventure Series: Panel with Sir Richard Branson
3pm Humanitarian Talk: FEMA's Jeff Dorko
4pm Understanding the Social Determinants of Health through the Lens of Natural Disaster
4pm The Big Picture for Global Hunger: Recent Transitions in Agriculture
4pm The Ceaseless Quest for Saudi Arabia: Central Arabian Nationhood and its Spillover Effects
4:30pm MIT Water Club Lecture Series: Sean Grundy, Sloan Alum & Co-Founder of Bevi Talks About the Water Startup World
5pm How Facts Survive in Public Service Media
6pm History is a Virus: Claude Lévi-Strauss and The Family of Man
6pm Colloquium: Buddhist Responses to Climate Change
6pm Fashion & Tech Demos and Drinks
6:30pm Public Forum: Mass Incarceration and Gentrification: The Path to Dispossession
7pm Graphic Novels: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
7pm Green Cambridge 2030 Goals presentation to Porter Square Neighborhood Assn.
7:30pm Big Data to Big Art
-------------------------
Friday, February 19
-------------------------
10am Empowering the IoT: Energy Scavenging and Ultra-Low Power Processing
10am Sustainability and Green Living Showcase
11:45am Culture As a Competitive Advantage
12pm Beyond Sanders and Clinton: Visionary Futures for Democratic Economics
12pm Arctic photosynthesis captured by satellite-observed solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence
12pm The Electoral Legacies of War
2:30pm Natural and Unnatural Disasters: 3/11, Asbestos, and the Unmaking of Japan's Modern World
3pm Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form
3pm Crowd Sourcing Epidemic Detection
3:30pm Animal Law Week - Book Talk: What can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law?
4:30pm Knight Science Journalism Book Night with Gareth Cook
-----------------------------
Saturday, February 20
-----------------------------
8am 2016 MIT Tech Conference - The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
8am HarvardxDesign
10am 2nd Annual Robot Race: Build-a-Bot Workshop #1
10am A Gathering of the Massachusetts Green Network
10am 20th Annual NEMES Model Engineering Show
10:30am Gardening for Pollinators
2pm Are Solar and Wind Energy going to supplant 'dirty fuels'?
2pm This Changes Everything: A Film Screening + Discussion
---------------------------
Sunday, February 21
---------------------------
5pm Biochar, Amazonia and Global Warming: An Anthropologist's View
----------------------------
Monday, February 22
----------------------------
10am Neurocomputational systems for decision-making
12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - Eloise Marais, Harvard
12pm The Paris Agreement
12:15pm Pepsin Era - Artificially Digested Foods and the Eating Body
12:30pm Architecture Lecture: Amir Roth, The Present and Future of DOE's Energy Modeling Program
4pm The Longer-Term Effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on Health and Well-being
5:30pm The Blockchain: Enabling a Distributed & Connected Energy Future
6:30pm Re-thinking Local: A Cross-regional Dialogue about Strategies for Local Practice in Cities
----------------------------
Tuesday, February 23
-----------------------------
8:30am Boston Society of Architects Tiny House Presentation
9am Digital Preservation UnConference by NDSR
12pm Brown Bag: Towards an Open Science Publishing Platform
12pm Developing Effective Citizen Responses to Discrimination and Harassment Online
12:30pm Planetary Lunch Colloquium Series (PlCS): Exploring Europa: A Potentially Habitable World
12:30pm Slow Way Home: How the Japanese Have Preserved a Universal Walk-to-School System
12:30pm Rethinking Law and Planning
3pm E. J. Dionne
4pm CRISPR Biology and the Future of Genome Engineering
4pm Social Ties and Local Governance: Toward a Theory of Social Institutions
5:30pm Askwith Forum: The Pursuit of Hipponess
6pm Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond
6pm A Bike Safety Forum - How Can We Change State Law To Make Cycling Safer?
6:30pm Reverse Engineering, and Repairing, the Brain and Mind
---------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
---------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
----------------------------
Monday, February 15
----------------------------
FebFest - How to Build a City in Six Days: Community Design Showcase
Monday, February 15
10:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building N5, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join us at the MIT Museum during the week of February 15th to explore How to Build a City in Six Days. Each day features a showcase exploring aspects of city planning, a tour of our newest exhibition "Imagining New Technology", and an opportunity to help build a crowd sourced 3D printed map of Cambridge.
Explore how to design a community to last hundreds of years. And, try your hand a designing a neighborhood or running a bicycle-powered generator.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free for MIT Students, $5 Other Students, $10 Adults
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Jennifer Novotney
617-253-5927
-----------------------------
Tuesday, February 16
-----------------------------
Sam Feist, CNN: Media Coverage of the Election
Tuesday, February 16
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Sam Feist is CNN’s Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. Named to this role in May 2011, he oversees daily operations of the bureau and leads all newsgathering and Washington-based programming, including: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, The Lead with Jake Tapper, and Inside Politics. Feist also leads the production of CNN’s campaign and election coverage, which in 2012 included the network’s record 7 Republican presidential debates, primary and convention coverage and its Emmy-Award winning election night.
---------------------------------
Climate change and viticulture. Impacts and adaptations
Tuesday, February 16
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, 22 Divinity Avenue, Seminar Room, Cambridge
Dr. Iñaki García de Cortazar Atuari, Agroclim group of INRA agronomique (Institut national de la recherche)
--------------------------------
Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web
Tuesday, February 16
12:00 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Schneier at 12:00 pm.
with Berkman Fellow, Bruce Schneier
We've created a world where technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. Facebook, fitness trackers, Uber, smart homes, electronic voting, Internet advertising, credit card payments, and countless other large-scale socio-technical systems deliver instant accessibility and functionality. Yet these systems demand continuous access to us and our information, and are vulnerable to a host of new security threats from users, from outsiders, and from the corporations and governments that control them. This talk looks back at what we've learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future.
About Bruce
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a "security guru" by The Economist. He is the author of 12 books -- including the New York Times best-seller "Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World" -- as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter "Crypto-Gram" and blog "Schneier on Security" are read by over 250,000 people. Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and an Advisory Board member of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He is also the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient Systems, Inc.
------------------------------------
Tuesday Seminar Series: "From Political Polarization to Protest Escalation: The 2013 Events in Brazil and Turkey in Comparative Perspective"
WHEN Tue., Feb. 16, 2016, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South S-250, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
SPEAKER(S) Andrei Roman, Ph.D. candidate in government, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO isalcedo@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Andrei Roman is a Ph.D. candidate in government at Harvard University. His research agenda is focused on the study of interrelationships among political cleavages, identities, and political behavior and seeks to integrate political science approaches with theories developed in sociology and social psychology. Andrei's dissertation proposes a new theoretical framework for understanding mass protest escalation in democratic settings, combining findings from extensive field research with statistical and experimental evidence. Andrei has applied his academic expertise to research on economic development (IQSS/IFMR, UNDP, and World Bank), sovereign risk analysis (Goldman Sachs), and political strategy consulting (APPM). He is the co-founder of Atlas Político (www.atlaspolitico.com), a digital start-up for political transparency and engagement that was launched in 2014 in Brazil is currently expanding across Latin America.
-----------------------------------
Energy Transitions in Germany and Japan Five Years after Fukushima
WHEN Tue., Feb. 16, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Miranda Schreurs, professor, Department of Government and Politics, Freie Universität Berlin
Moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
------------------------------------
What is Islamic in the Islamic State?
WHEN Tue., Feb. 16, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CMES, Room 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S) Jocelyne Cesari, chair of religion and politics, University of Birmingham, UK; senior research fellow, Georgetown University’s Berkley Center on Religion, Peace and World Affairs; visiting professor of religion and politics and associate, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, director, Interfaculty Program Islam in the West, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Please note: seating is first-come, first-served.
Unless otherwise noted in the event description, CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
------------------------------------
Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Sallie (Penny) Chishom
Tuesday, February 16
4:30 pm
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Penny Chisholm is a biological oceanographer who holds a joint appointment between MIT’s departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Biology. Her research focuses on understanding of the role of microorganisms in shaping marine ecosystems. It is centered on understanding the biology and ecology of Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant photosynthetic microorganism on Earth. Discovered only 30 years ago, it numerically dominates large regions of the world’s oceans and is responsible for a sizable fraction of ocean photosynthesis. In addition to her scientific publications, Chisholm has published (with Molly Bang) three award-winning children’s picture books — Living Sunlight, Ocean Sunlight, and Buried Sunlight — which describe the central role of photosynthesis in shaping life on Earth.
------------------------------------
How to Increase Energy Access in Off-grid Communities
Tuesday, February 16
6pm
MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Dr. Eric Verploegen, MIT D-Lab
------------------------------------
Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty
Tuesday, February 16
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes New York Times music critic BEN RATLIFF and assistant arts editor for The Boston Globe STEVE SMITH for a discussion of Ratliff's book Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty.
About Every Song Ever
What is listening in the digital era? Today, new technologies make it possible for us to roam instantly and experimentally across musical languages and generations, from Detroit techno to jam bands to baroque opera—or to drive deeper into the set of tastes that we already have. Either way, we can listen to nearly anything, at any time. The possibilities in this new age of listening overturn old assumptions about what it means to properly appreciate music—to be an “educated” listener.
In Every Song Ever, the veteran New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff reimagines the very idea of music appreciation for our times. As familiar subdivisions like “rock” or “jazz” matter less and less and music’s accessible past becomes longer and broader, listeners can put aside the intentions of composers or musicians and engage music afresh on their own terms. Ratliff isolates signal musical experiences—such as listening to repetition, speed, and virtuosity—and traces them across wildly diverse recordings to reveal unexpected connections. When we listen for slowness, for instance, we may detect surprising affinities between the drone metal of Sunn O))), the mixtape manipulations of DJ Screw, Sarah Vaughan singing “Lover Man,” and the final works of Shostakovich. And if we listen for closeness, we might notice how the tight harmonies of bluegrass vocals illuminate the virtuosic synchrony of John Coltrane’s quartet. Ratliff also goes in search of “the perfect moment”; considers what it means to hear emotion, by sampling the complex sadness that powers the music of Nick Drake and Slayer; and examines the meaning of certain listening behaviors, such as the impulse to document and possess the entire performance history of the Grateful Dead.
Encompassing the sounds of five continents and several centuries, Ratliff’s book is an artful work of criticism and a lesson in open-mindedness. It is a definitive field guide to our radically altered musical habitat.
--------------------------------
Wednesday, February 17
--------------------------------
February Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, February 17
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM (EST)
Pret A Manger, 185 Franklin Street, Post Office Square, Boston
Join us for the second Sustainability Breakfast of 2016 - Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals together for networking, discussion and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time any time between 7:30 and 830 am.
--------------------------------------
Animal Law Week - Direct Democracy and Animal Protection
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, WCC 1015, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Ethics, Law, Lecture
DETAILS Wednesday, Feb. 17, noon-1pm, WCC 1015: “Direct Democracy and Animal Protection.” Featuring Nancy Perry of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). CURRY.
-------------------------------------
Zika: Science, Politics, and Policy-Making
Wednesday, February 17
12:00pm-1:15pm
Tufts, Eaton 124, 5 The Green, Medford
Moderated by Rosemary Taylor
-------------------------------------
Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine: Symbolic Politics and their Implications for Russia's Geopolitical Stance in the World
Wednesday, February 17
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Elizabeth Wood (MIT)
SSP Wednesday Seminar Series
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617-253-7529
-----------------------------
Schools, Courts, and Civic Participation: Enforcing the Constitutional Obligation to Prepare All Students to be Capable Citizens
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gutman Conference Center Area 1, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Civic & Moral Education Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Michael A. Rebell, professor and executive director, Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University
Brent D. Maher, Ed.D. candidate in higher education at HGSE, will serve as the discussant.
Speaker Bio: Michael A. Rebell is an experienced litigator, administrator, researcher, and scholar in the field of education law. He is the executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity and Professor of Law and Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Campaign seeks to promote equity and excellence in education and to overcome the gap in educational access and achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged students throughout the United States. Mr. Rebell is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
DETAILS Civic apathy, the polarization of our political institutions, and rampant social inequality render students’ preparation for active civic participation more important today than ever. Yet, surveys show that high-school graduates are ignorant of basic facts about government and the functioning of a democratic political system, and that students lack the training they need to be capable voters and engaged civic participants. Despite numerous calls for more emphasis on civic education, and dozens of specific proposals for how schools might be more effective in preparing students for civic participation, contemporary schools by and large have not proven equal to the task.
The U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, and a majority of the state supreme courts have held that a prime purpose of the public schools is to prepare students to function productively as civic participants. What the courts need to do now is take steps to ensure that states and school districts take their civic preparation duties seriously and implement on a sustained basis meaningful programs that will effectively prepare students for civic participation in today’s world. The role of the courts in this enterprise is not to micromanage what is going on in the classrooms, but to induce states and schools to carry out their constitutional responsibilities to prepare students to function productively as civic participants in ways that meet contemporary needs.
----------------------------
China's Innovation in Urbanization: Using Low Carbon Community Pilot as an Example
Wednesday, February 17
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: TIAN Chengchuan, Climate Change Department, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
Chengchuan Tian is a Research Fellow of the Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, and a Postdoctoral Fellow of Peking University. He is the director of the Division of Strategic Research and Planning, Department of Climate Change, NDRC, China. Dr. Tian has been engaged in strategic planning and policy making on climate change for many years, and has been involved in the National 11th, 12th, and 13th Five-Year Plan drafting work.
China's Innovation in Urbanization: Using Low Carbon Community Pilot as Example
Low Carbon Community Pilot is an innovation in China's low carbon development and urbanization. This is an important attempt to change the traditional concept and mode of urban development, and the program will reduce carbon emission from many territories, including building, transportation, energy, water, solid waste systems, etc. It has been implemented since 2014, and there have since been 1000 new low carbon communities in China.
China Talk Series
The China Talk Series will bring a selection of experts on China's urbanization to SA+P to present their research on planning, real estate, and architecture. This semester, the theme of the Talk Series is socially responsible real estate entrepreneurship in China. We look forward to lively lunch discussions on opportunities and challenges facing China as it urbanizes.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
-----------------------------
Jill Abramson: Election 2016: Is There Enough Quality Campaign Coverage?
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building, 5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Jill Abramson, visiting lecturer, Department of English at Harvard University; former executive editor, The New York Times
CONTACT INFO tim_bailey@hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS Jill Abramson is a journalist who spent the last 17 years in the most senior editorial positions at The New York Times, where she was the first woman to serve as Washington Bureau Chief, Managing Editor and Executive Editor. Before joining the Times, she spent nine years at The Wall Street Journal as the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief and an investigative reporter covering money and politics. She is the author of three books including Strange Justice, which she co-authored with Jane Mayer. In addition to her current position as a lecturer in Harvard’s English Department, Jill Abramson has taught at both Princeton and Yale, where she led undergraduate writing seminars for five years. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and The American Philosophical Society.
-----------------------------
Alexis de Tocqueville Lecture on American Politics
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Case Study Room, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for American Political Studies
SPEAKER(S) Bruce Western and artist Stephen Tourlentes
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO caps@gov.harvard.edu
DETAILS A conversation between Bruce Western and artist Stephen Tourlentes on the current state of the U.S. prison system. An exhibition of Tourlentes' photographs of prisons shot at night, from across the U.S., is currently on view at the Center for American Political Studies, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge St.
LINK http://caps.gov.harvard.edu/event/tocqueville-lecture-bruce-western-conversation-stephen-tourlentes
-----------------------------
Kelman Seminar: Beyond the Headlines - Understanding and Misunderstanding Islam
Wednesday, February 17
4:00-5:30pm
Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution featuring speakers:
Ali S. Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures and Director of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Program in Islamic Studies at Harvard
Jeff Seul, Lecturer on the Practice of Peace at Harvard Divinity School and Chairman of the Peace Appeal Foundation
This series is sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; the Nieman Foundation for Journalism; Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School; and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
The theme of the 2015–2016 Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution is negotiation, conflict, and the news media. It explores the relationship between the news media and conflict-resolution efforts worldwide and examines how the framing and reporting of conflict influences the public understanding of events. The seminar considers ways to strengthen the capacity to prevent, resolve, and transform ethno-national conflicts. The topics this year include the rise of political Islam, domestic conflicts related to race, the impact of reporting techniques on conflict, the neuroscience of conflict, new threats to national security, and more. Speakers include experts from academia and the media, as well as political actors from conflict regions. For more information, contact Donna Hicks at dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu.
About the speakers:
Ali S. Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard and Director of the University’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Program in Islamic Studies. He attended Harvard College, with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion and continued his doctoral studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He teaches courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition including two courses in the undergraduate general education curriculum. He is particularly interested in the interaction between religion, literature and the arts in Muslim Societies. Professor Asani’s use of the arts in pedagogy is part of his broader effort to eradicate what he calls “religious illiteracy.” For more than 30 years, he has dedicated himself to helping others better understand the rich subtext and diverse influences that make religion — in particular, Islam — a complex cultural touchstone. In 2002, he was awarded the Harvard Foundation medal for his outstanding contributions to improving intercultural and race relations by promoting a better understanding of Islam. More recently he received the Petra C. Shattuck Prize for distinguished teaching from Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education.
Jeff Seul, MTS ’97, LLM ’01, is Lecturer on the Practice of Peace at Harvard Divinity School. He also serves as chairman of the Peace Appeal Foundationand is a partner in the international law firm Holland & Knight. The Peace Appeal Foundation, which was founded with a mandate from five Nobel Peace Laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk, is an international NGO that helps local stakeholders launch and sustain broad-scale peace and national dialogues processes to end or avoid war. Jeff earned an MTS at Harvard Divinity School and an LLM in international law at Harvard Law School. After graduating from HDS, Jeff taught negotiation and conflict resolution courses for several years at Harvard Law School, where he developed Harvard’s first course on complex, multiparty negotiations. He was also a senior associate of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Jeff’s scholarship at Harvard and since has focused on religion and peacebuilding, including the role of identity dynamics in violent conflict involving religious groups and approaches to transformation of conflicts with a religious dimension. He also writes about possibilities for consensual resolution of legal disputes involving deeply-held moral values. His 1999 article “’Ours is the Way of God’: Religion, Identity and Intergroup Conflict: in the Journal of Peace Research was among the first to combine work in the social sciences and religious studies to explain why religion and conflict sometimes become entangled. A forthcoming article, entitled “Trust the Stranger as Your Own: Tapping Religious Prosociality for Conflict Transformation,” draws upon recent social scientific work to suggest ways in which religion can contribute to peacebuilding.
----------------------------
The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CMES, Room 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S) Will McCants, senior fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, and director, Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, The Brookings Institution. McCants is also an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and has served in government and think tank positions related to Islam, the Middle East, and terrorism, including as State Department senior adviser for countering violent extremism. He is the author of "Founding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam" (Princeton University Press, 2011) and "The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State" (St. Martin's Press, 2015).
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS The Islamic State is one of the most lethal and successful jihadist groups in modern history, surpassing even al-Qaida. How has it attracted so many followers and conquered so much land in its relatively brief existence? McCants will discuss the Islamic State’s history, tactics, and goals, and the many ways in which it is more ruthless, more apocalyptic, and more devoted to state-building than any of its predecessors or current competitors.
McCants's recently-published book, "The ISIS Apocalypse", is based almost entirely on primary sources in Arabic—including ancient religious texts and secret al-Qaida and Islamic State letters that few have seen—and explores how religious fervor, strategic calculation, and doomsday prophecy shaped the Islamic State's past and foreshadow its dark future.
Seating is first come, first served. Unless otherwise noted in the event description, CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
LINK http://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/isis-apocalypse-history-strategy-and-doomsday-vision-islamic-state
---------------------------
Black Politics and Gun Violence
WHEN Wed., Feb. 17, 2016, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Humanities, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Martha Biondi, professor of African American studies and history, Northwestern University
Moderator: Leah Wright Rigueur, assistant professor of public policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
DETAILS Part of the Race and American Politics seminar series
-----------------------------
ArtScience @ Le Lab Lecture Series: Responsibility, Art & Science of Intentional Extinction, De-Extinction & Aging
Wednesday, February 17
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Honeycomb, Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
Core faculty from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University will participate in a four-part lecture series hosted by Le Laboratoire Cambridge on how the arts and design are informing the frontiers of science. In the first lecture, George Church will give a lecture titled " Responsibility, art & science of intentional extinction, de-extinction & aging".
All lectures will take place at Le Laboratoire Cambridge from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. Seating is limited and reservations are encouraged. Please contact Ankica Koldzic at programs@lelabcambridge.com.
George Church, Ph.D., Core Faculty member, Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Contact information:
------------------------------------
Online Media Lightning Talks at the MIT Media Lab
Wednesday, February 17
6:30 PM
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Come hear about new products, projects, and ideas at the ONA Boston and Hacks/Hackers Boston Lightning Talk event on Feb. 17.
Local journalists and technologists will share their work during a series of five-minute talks. Before and after the program, there will be time for networking.
Editorial Comment: The editor will be giving one of these lightning talks on a searchable listing of ALL the public events at ALL the local colleges and universities, something that I would like to see institutionalized in the Boston area and, perhaps, replicated around the world.
------------------------------------
Bread & Puppet Theater: The Seditious Conspiracy Theater Presents ...
Wednesday, February 17
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
MassArt / Tower Auditorium, Massachusetts College of Art & Design , 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Cost: FREE or Donation
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is proud to present Bread & Puppet Theatre, in residence at the college from February 11-21, 2016... In keeping with their long standing tradition of "sublime arsekicking puppetry," the award-winning socio-political Vermont-based Bread & Puppet Theater, featuring Artistic Director Peter Schumann and his merry troupe of puppeteers, returns to Boston as Artists-in-Residence at MassArt, bringing their signature powerful imagery, masked characters, and giant papier-mch puppets. Their eleven day residency, with events open to the public, includes The Seditious Conspiracy Theater Presents: A Monument to the Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera which features a group of competent clowns, supported by a chorus of seditious conspiracy dancers, demonstrating the effects of U.S. colonialism on the island of Puerto Rico, as well as the power of the government over the individual freedom seeker. This is demonstrated by highlighting the stages in Oscars life which led to his incarceration. Oscar Lopez Rivera is currently one of the worlds longest held political prisoners, and has been jailed for more than 34 years. After each performance (recommended for ages 10 & up), sourdough rye bread will be served and the audience is welcome to stay and check out all the masks and puppets and to peruse the Cheap Art,posters, and banners for sale. Bread and Puppet is participatory theater!! All are welcome to engage as citizen puppeteers! In order to perform you must attend avolunteerrehearsal/s.
Bread & Puppet Theater is an internationally recognized company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art filled with music, dance and slapstick. Its shows are political and spectacular, with huge puppets made of paper mach and cardboard. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City's Lower East Side, the theater has been based in Northeastern Vermont since the early 1970s. The companys performances have been described by The New York Times as "a spectacle for the heart and soul." For further information on Bread & Puppet Theater, including further details on the eleven day residency at MassArt, please visit: www.breadandpuppet.org.
----------------------------
Thursday, February 18
-----------------------------
Nicco Mele
Thursday, February 18
11:00am-12:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Author, social media pioneer and digital strategist Nicco Mele is currently Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. Mele is a senior fellow for the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) and formerly was senior vice president and deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times. He is a member of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy’s advisory board. Mele writes and speaks regularly about the use of technology in political campaigns, drawing partly on his experience as Webmaster for Gov. Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, when his team popularized the use of technology and social media that revolutionized political fundraising. Mele’s 2013 book, The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath, explored the consequences of living in a socially connected society. Mele served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught graduate-level classes on the Internet and politics. In the spring of 2009, he was the Visiting Edward R. Murrow Lecturer at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, and continued teaching as an adjunct lecturer. In the fall of 2008 he was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.
----------------------------------
App Launch: Harvard of Yesteryear
WHEN Thu., Feb. 18, 11:30 p.m. – Fri., Feb. 19, 2016, 1:30 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Information Center, Smith Campus Center, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS Harvard to launch new app which allows users to experience Harvard of yesteryear
Harvard, founded in 1636, is the nation’s oldest university. From the University Hall to Memorial Hall, the campus is rich in history. Now visitors to Harvard can see what Harvard Yard of yesteryear looked like with a swipe – or pivot – of their smart phone. The Harvard Information Center is formally launching its new interactive online tour app that will allow users to instantly experience the history of Harvard Yard by viewing historical images of significant landmarks on campus. Join us as we celebrate this new, exciting online experience!
---------------------------------
Business Is an Adventure Series: Panel with Sir Richard Branson
Thursday, February 18
12:45 EST (3:45PM PST)
Webinar
Join Virgin Atlantic as we gather some of the top leaders in the Los Angeles community to kick off our Business is an Adventure Entrepreneurial Series. Tune in on to hear Richard Branson and a panel of prominent LA business leaders uncover how today’s business leaders make that adventure epic and reveal how businesses can thrive on the global stage.
This is an interactive live stream, and we encourage you to tweet any questions before and during the live stream by using the hashtags #GALive and #LetItFlyLA.
---------------------------------
Humanitarian Talk: FEMA's Jeff Dorko
Thursday, February 18
3:00-4:30PM
Beaver Works, 300 Technology Square, Cambridge
Jeff Dorko, FEMA Assistant Administrator of Logistics, will speak about current logistics challenges and opportunities in domestic disaster response. Full description to come.
Refreshments provided.
----------------------------------
Understanding the Social Determinants of Health through the Lens of Natural Disaster
WHEN Thu., Feb. 18, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 9 Bow Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
SPEAKER(S) Ichiro Kawachi, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and co-director, RWJF Health & Society Scholars program
COST Open to faculty, researchers, and post-docs
CONTACT INFO Kayla Small
DETAILS The Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, a nationwide cohort of older community-dwelling residents, was established just seven months before the disaster. The baseline survey gathered information about the health, living standards, and behaviors of over 110,000 people. One of the field sites in this nationwide cohort was directly struck by the tsunami; the resulting “natural experiment" afforded the opportunity to examine the social determinants of health & resilience in the aftermath of a disaster. Dr. Kawachi’s talk will focus on three areas of ongoing investigation: - The predictors of mortality on the day of the disaster, contrasted with predictors of survival in the 3-year follow-up. - The predictors of functional independence and cognitive decline among survivors of disaster - The application of concepts from behavioral economics to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the psychology of scarcity.
---------------------------------
The Big Picture for Global Hunger: Recent Transitions in Agriculture
Thursday, February 18
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Harvard Center for Government and International Studies, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
What: This seminar is part of The Workshop on the Sustainability of the World’s Food and Farming Systems.
Featuring: William Masters, Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Department of Economics at Tufts University.
This seminar is open to the public. We hope you can join us!
---------------------------------
The Ceaseless Quest for Saudi Arabia: Central Arabian Nationhood and its Spillover Effects
WHEN Thu., Feb. 18, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS Knafel 262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The WCFIA/CMES Middle East Seminar
SPEAKER(S) Nadav Samin, lecturer, Dartmouth College
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Unless otherwise noted in the event description, CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
----------------------------------
MIT Water Club Lecture Series: Sean Grundy, Sloan Alum & Co-Founder of Bevi Talks About the Water Startup World
Thursday, February 18
4:30p–5:30p
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Sean Grundy, Co-Founder and CEO of Bevi
Sean Grundy, a 2013 Sloan alum and co-founder of the MIT Water Club, will speak about his experience starting up Bevi (formerly Refresh) right out of school. Bevi is redesigning the beverage supply chain with machines that purify water and make customized drinks in seconds. Their system vastly cuts the cost and carbon footprint of beverages. Hear about the resources and opportunities Sean took advantage of while at MIT and the Boston area, and the challenges of the start-up world post-graduation. Bevi has just raised $6.5M, so come hear about what Sean and Bevi have planned for 2016 at the lecture, then join the Water Club (location still TBD) at a nearby restaurant for refreshments!
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Water Club
For more information, contact:
-----------------------------------
How Facts Survive in Public Service Media
Thursday, February 18
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Caroline Jack
Economic literacy has long been touted as a potential solution to national economic crisis and individual financial precarity. But what does it mean to be economically literate? In a field full of contestation, how do some perspectives get disqualified or excluded, and others held up as facts? Between 1976 and 1978, the nonprofit, quasi-governmental public service advertising organization The Advertising Council saturated the American media environment with messages about American citizens' responsibility to become economically knowledgeable, and distributed over ten million copies of a glossy brochure designed to teach citizens the least they needed to know about the American economic system. Activist groups criticized the Ad Council campaign as propagandistic--but when these groups responded with their own information campaigns, they found themselves excluded from access to public funds and airwaves. Where was the line between objective information and propaganda? Who had the power to decide? How has this dynamic changed over time? In this talk, Jack calls attention to corporate managers and executives as consequential social and ontological actors with distinctive vernacular theories of media and politics.
Caroline Jack is an Exchange Scholar in CMS/W and a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Communication at Cornell.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
---------------------------------
History is a Virus: Claude Lévi-Strauss and The Family of Man
WHEN Thu., Feb. 18, 2016, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Committee on Degrees in History and Literature
SPEAKER(S) Professor Louis Menand
CONTACT INFO 617.495.4029
--------------------------------
Colloquium: Buddhist Responses to Climate Change
WHEN Thu., Feb. 18, 2016, 6 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Religion
SPONSOR Religions and the Practice of Peace Initiative, the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at HDS, and the El-Hibri Foundation
CONTACT Liz Lee-Hood
DETAILS Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium Dinner Series
Space is limited. RSVP is required: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_71wSW4nOH956gGV
Climate change is a stark reminder of our thoroughgoing interconnectedness. We all bear the risks and burdens of maltreatment of the global ecosystem that sustains and depends upon us. None of us can reduce these risks and burdens alone. Buddhist leaders from many traditions have issued an urgent call for a collective response, "The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change." This session will explore Buddhist resources that can help us to care for the earth and all of its inhabitants, and how these resources can be brought to bear in the most effective ways.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is chair of Buddhist Global Relief, and president of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS). Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi will present "The Four Noble Truths of the Climate Crisis." The four noble truths are the template the Buddha used to diagnose the problem of human suffering. With suitable adjustments, this same formula can be employed as a lens through which to examine the contemporary climate crisis. In this presentation, scholar-monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi will use the four truths to explore the deep origins of the crisis and describe an "eightfold path" as a solution to avoid impending calamity.
Dr. Julie A. Nelson is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston; a Senior Research Fellow with the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University; and a Dharma teacher in the Boundless Way Zen school. Dr. Nelson will present "Beyond ‘Small is Beautiful': Buddhism and the Economics of Climate Change." An active member of feminist, ecological, and social economics networks, Dr. Nelson is the author of Economics for Humans, as well as many other books and articles. Her work has been published in journals ranging from the American Economic Review and Econometrica to Ecological Economics, Ethics & the Environment, and the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. She lives in a cooperative household in Arlington.
The event will be moderated by Charles Hallisey, Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures.
Co-sponsored by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School. With generous support from the El-Hibri Foundation.
Launched by HDS Dean David N. Hempton in 2014, this monthly public series convenes a cross-disciplinary RPP Working Group of faculty, experts, graduate students, and alumni from across Harvard’s Schools and the local area to explore topics and cases in religions and the practice of peace. A diverse array of scholars, leaders, and religious peacebuilders are invited to present and engage with the RPP Working Group and general audience. A light dinner is served and a brief reception follows the program.
RPP mailing list at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8um6Y7Ts6trPHI9
---------------------------------
Fashion & Tech Demos and Drinks
Thursday, February 18
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Boston, Boston
As technology evolves, so has the fashion industry. In honor of Fashion Week, Tech in Motion will explore how the two merge to create truly innovative and functional accessories. Boston has always proved itself as the place to be for startups looking to launch and scale their tech ideas. As of late, it's even become a hub for fashion trends to take off! On February 18th we will be hosting our first ever Fashion & Tech Demos and Drinks to showcase all of the exciting ventures in Boston's fashion, retail, and eCommerce space. Demos To Be Announced Soon!
---------------------------------
Public Forum: Mass Incarceration and Gentrification: The Path to Dispossession
Thursday, February 18
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Grant A.M.E. Church, 1906 Washington Street, Boston
Mass incarceration is one thing and gentrification is another, but have you considered the intersection between the both of them? Mass incarceration and its after effects of criminal records, joblessness and lack of sustainable income for many have led to the decline in property ownership, sustainability and property transition for many families and individuals. This is especially true for urban dwellers and the Black community where over 60% of prisoners are taken from largely as a result of the war on drugs, etc. Join us for a resource and informative public forum on the topic: "Mass Incarceration and Gentrification: The Path to Dispossession" on Thursday February 18th at 6:30pm at Grant AME Church in Boston. Blacks and Hispanics are less than 20% of Massachusetts general population but over 50% of Massachusetts correctional population. Save the Date: Benefit Gospel Concert: "Strictly Gospel Spirituals" The Center for Church and Prison, Inc. is hosting a fundraising concert. Proceeds go towards the support of the work of The Center for Church and Prison, Inc. and the funding of a radio program focused on the dissimination of information about mass incarceration, resource availability for formerly incarcerated individuals and prison prevention. Thanks for supporting the work of The Center for Church and Prison. Gospel or Negro Spirituals have over the years provided inspiration, motivation and a sense of community. They were used as code words when slaves were planning their escape from their slave masters. Take for instance the famous "Steal Away." Their value during the Civil Rights Movement cannot be underestimated. Join us and other wonderful singers on Saturday February 27th at 6:30 at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Roxbury for an inspiring evening of singing these historic melodies. This concert is free. Listen to some: www.georgewalterssleyon.com
---------------------------------
Graphic Novels: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Thursday, February 18
7 pm
Central Square Library, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge
Hillary Chute
---------------------------------
Green Cambridge 2030 Goals presentation to Porter Square Neighborhood Assn.
Thursday, February 18
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
North Cambridge Senior Center, 2050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
As you may know, Green Cambridge, Inc. is an environmental advocacy non-profit working to promote sustainability and environmental awareness in Cambridge. We recently finalized our Cambridge 2030 Goals for Environmental Sustainability, which outlines our vision for a future in which we respond appropriately to the growing dangers of climate change and the ongoing destruction of our natural environment.
These goals include creating an efficient and clean energy supply, reducing waste and carbon emissions, conserving important natural systems, and tapping into the innovation economy that makes Cambridge so unique. We want these goals to represent the views and ideas of a diverse set of Cambridge community members - which is why we have incorporated feedback from many community groups who share our desire to see these goals become a reality.
---------------------------------
Big Data to Big Art
Thursday, February 18
7:30 pm
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
Henry "Trae" Winter, CfA
We currently live in the Information Age, where terms like "Big Data" and the "Internet of Things" are ingrained into the public consciousness. This massive compilation of data is useless without tools to aid us in comprehending what the numbers mean. These tools are almost always visual in nature and creating them requires not only a knowledge of math and science, but also an understanding of how human beings interpret and interact with the world around them. We will explore a few large datasets and
the tools developed to visualize them, and see that the boundaries between art and science are very often blurred.
-------------------------
Friday, February 19
-------------------------
Empowering the IoT: Energy Scavenging and Ultra-Low Power Processing
Friday, February 19
10:00am
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Dina El-Damak, MIT
The internet of things (IoT) is driving a new computing era by enabling the wireless connectivity of nearly everything we use. Vehicles, appliances, civil-engineering structures, manufacturing equipment, livestock and even our own bodies will have embedded sensors that report information directly to networked servers, aiding with maintenance and the coordination of tasks. The creativity in this new era of the IoT is boundless, with amazing potential to immensely improve human life. Realizing that vision, however, will require extremely low-power sensing systems that can run for months without battery changes - or, even better, that can extract energy from the environment to recharge. Moreover, the flexibility and the miniaturization of such systems are highly desirable to ease their integration with various structures. Thus, the future growth of the IoT will be contingent upon innovations in ultra- low power circuit design techniques, system architecture, as well as novel material technologies.
In the first part of this talk, I will present the design of a power management IC that can operate efficiently with inputpower in the range of 10 nW to 1nW with 3.2nW quiescent power consumption for energy harvesting applications. The asynchronous architecture, subthreshold operation, power-gating and dynamic pulse-width control enabled a peak efficiency greater than 80%. In the second part of the talk, I will show the results of an integrated powermanagement IC using on-chip ferroelectric capacitors for dynamic voltage scaling. The integration of ferroelectricmaterials with silicon CMOS technology allowed the design of highly efficient switched capacitor DC- DC converter with a peak efficiency of 93%. In the last part of the talk, I will focus on circuit design using the flexible MolybdenumDisulfide (MoS2 ) - one of the emerg- ing two-dimensional materials. I will touch upon our system design flow -which is validated by the design and testing of various combinational logic and sequential cir- cuits. Measurementresults demonstrating fully-functional prototypes will be shown and future application opportunities will be discussed.
Speaker Bio: Dina El-Damak received the S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2012 and 2015 respectively, and the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. She is currently a postdoctoral associate in the Energy-Efficient Circuits and Systems Group at MIT working under the supervision of Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan. Dr. El-Damak was the recipient of Texas Instruments Graduate Woman’s Fellowship for leadership in microelectronics for the academic years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Her research interests include energy harvesting and power management circuits, ultra-low power biomedical systems and circuit design using two-dimensional materials.
Electrical Engineering Seminar Series
Contact: Maddie Usupova
Email: musupova@seas.harvard.edu
---------------------------------
Sustainability and Green Living Showcase
Speaker: Les Norford, MIT CoLab, MIT UA Sustainability Club
Friday, February 19
10:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building N51, 225 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
FebFest - How to Build a City in Six Days
Join us at the MIT Museum during the week of February 15th to explore How to Build a City in Six Days. Each day features a showcase exploring aspects of city planning, a tour of our newest exhibition "Imagining New Technology", and an opportunity to help build a crowd sourced 3D printed map of Cambridge.
Dig into ways to reduce our carbon footprint! Come and create upcycled decorations, learn how to compost, or take a tour of an MIT lab focused on reducing our energy usage.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free for MIT Students, $5 Other Students, $10 Adults
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact: Jennifer Novotney
617-253-5927
-------------------------------
Culture As a Competitive Advantage
Friday, February 19
11:45 AM to 12:45 PM
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, 1 Amherst Street, E40-160, Cambridge
with Katie Burke, Sloan '09, VP of Culture & Experience at Hubspot
HubSpot as a company is known for helping transform how companies market and sell. But in parallel, the team at HubSpot has also set out to redefine the modern workplace with a strong emphasis on creating a forward-thinking workplace rooted in autonomy and transparency. Specifically, HubSpot's Culture Code went viral, amassing more than 1.8M views on SlideShare, and positioning HubSpot as a thought leader on creating a workplace employees truly love.
So how should you as an entrepreneur think about culture, and when? How much of your company's culture should be top-down versus bottom-up, and how do you screen for culture fit while welcoming diversity of thought?
This workshop with HubSpot's VP of Culture and Experience (Katie Burke, Sloan '09) will walk through what culture is and isn't, the right time to think about culture as your organization goes, and some key insights to consider along the way with an interactive workshop, so come ready to share your experiences, learn from fellow attendees, and leave with actionable insights to apply to your company today.
--------------------------------
Beyond Sanders and Clinton: Visionary Futures for Democratic Economics
Friday, February 19
12 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1019, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Gar Alperovitz, Harvard
Juliet Schor, Northeastern
Greg Watson, Schumacher Society
"Okay, okay, but if you don't like corporate capitalism and you don't like state socialism, what do you like!"
---------------------------------
Arctic photosynthesis captured by satellite-observed solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence
Friday, February 19
12:00PM - 1:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Kristina Luus, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Atmospheric Sciences Seminar
Contact Name: Roisin Commane
---------------------------------
The Electoral Legacies of War
WHEN Fri., Feb. 19, 2016, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer Building, Room 324, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) A seminar with Amanda Rizkallah, pPre-doctoral research fellow, Middle East Initiative and Ph.D. candidate in political science, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). Part of the Middle East Initiative Research Fellow Seminar Series.
COST Free and open to the public
--------------------------------
Natural and Unnatural Disasters: 3/11, Asbestos, and the Unmaking of Japan's Modern World
Friday, February 19
2:30p–4:30p
MIT, Building E51-095, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Brett Walker, Montana State University
Seminar on Environmental and Agricultural History
Web site: https://history.mit.edu/lectures-and-seminars/seminar-environmental-and-agricultural-history
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): History Office, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
For more information, contact: Margo Collett
617-253-4965
----------------------------------
Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form
Friday, February 19
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store and the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard welcome comics scholar and University of Chicago professor HILLARY L. CHUTE for a discussion of her latest book, Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form.
About Disaster Drawn
In hard-hitting accounts of Auschwitz, Bosnia, Palestine, and Hiroshima’s Ground Zero, comics display a stunning capacity to bear witness to trauma. Investigating how hand-drawn comics has come of age as a serious medium for engaging history, Disaster Drawn explores the ways graphic narratives by diverse artists, including Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya, Keiji Nakazawa, Art Spiegelman, and Joe Sacco, document the disasters of war.
Hillary L. Chute traces how comics inherited graphic print traditions and innovations from the seventeenth century and later, pointing out that at every turn new forms of visual-verbal representation have arisen in response to the turmoil of war. Modern nonfiction comics emerged from the shattering experience of World War II, developing in the 1970s with Art Spiegelman’s first “Maus” story about his immigrant family’s survival of Nazi death camps and with Hiroshima survivor Keiji Nakazawa’s inaugural work of “atomic bomb manga,” the comic book i>Ore Wa Mita (“I Saw It”)—a title that alludes to Goya’s famous Disasters of War etchings.
Chute explains how the form of comics—its collection of frames—lends itself to historical narrative. By interlacing multiple temporalities over the space of the page or panel, comics can place pressure on conventional notions of causality. Aggregating and accumulating frames of information, comics calls attention to itself as evidence. Disaster Drawn demonstrates why, even in the era of photography and film, people understand hand-drawn images to be among the most powerful forms of historical witness.
-----------------------------------
Crowd Sourcing Epidemic Detection
Friday, February 19
3-4 pm
BU, PHO 210, 8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston
Refreshments at 2:45 pm
Constantine Caramanis, University of Texas at Austin
Can we (early) detect the spread of a new disease, or of a new kind of malware, one whose properties have not been studied, and characteristics not yet identified? We consider the problem of detecting an infection process in a network when the indication that any particular node is infected is extremely noisy — statistically indistinguishable from everyday behavior.
Such a scenario occurs, for instance, when the only evidence of malware infecting a neighboring network node is a (rarely occurring) temporally-localized abnormality (e.g., an unusual sequence of system calls, or an increased processor and network load). However, many other benign activities occasionally exhibit similar characteristics; further these benign activities occur frequently (as opposed to the rare occurrence of a new malware infection). While it is impossible to distinguish between an infection incidence and a benign activity merely from observing a single node, we show that the spread itself can be used as a global signature of epidemic spread, and thus we can reliably distinguish between these two hypotheses (epidemic / benign activity). In addition, we explore how graph topology impacts our ability to do early detection.
Finally, we outline a recent effort where we prototype our system on a community of Android devices. We test on an environment with 10 different malware tainted Android apps, and show, using a custom-built evaluation platform on which popular mobile applications are driven by real user inputs, that our global approach significantly improves malware detection probabilities in a variety of network settings.
Based on joint with work Chris Milling, Eli Meirom, Sanjay Shakkottai, Shie Mannor, Ariel Orda, Mohit Tiwari, Michael Bartling and Mikhail Kazdagli.
Constantine Caramanis received the A.B. degree in Mathematics from Harvard University, and the MS and Ph.D. degrees from MIT. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Austin where he holds the Fluor Centennial Teaching Fellowship in Engineering #2. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2011. His current research interests include optimization and large-scale inference, computation and decision-making in large-scale systems.
-----------------------------------
Animal Law Week - Book Talk: What can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law?
WHEN Fri., Feb. 19, 2016, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Hauser 104, 1575 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Ethics, Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Law School
DETAILS Friday, Feb. 19, 3:30-5pm, Hauser 104: “Book Talk: What can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law?” Co-Sponsored with the Harvard Animal Law and Policy Program and the Harvard Environmental Law Review. Featuring Randall Abate of Florida A&M University College of Law. TEA, COFFEE, SNACKS
----------------------------------
Knight Science Journalism Book Night with Gareth Cook
Thursday, February 18
4:30 pm
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Gareth Cook is a Pulitzer Prize-winning freelance journalist – he received the prize in 2005 for a series in The Boston Globe that explored the ethical and human complications of stem cell research – a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, and editor of the best-selling book series The Best American Infographics. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, NewYorker.com, Wired, Scientific American, the Washington Monthly,the Boston Globe Ideas section, Salon and elsewhere. He is also editor of Scientific American’s Mind Matters neuroscience blog.
-----------------------------
Saturday, February 20
-----------------------------
2016 MIT Tech Conference - The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
Saturday, February 20
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Cost: $37.33–$105.25
Welcome to 2016 MIT Technology Conference!
Businesses have only recently begun harnessing the power of the innovation done in big data, cloud computing, and Internet of Things. And now, Artificial Intelligence is poised to shatter the paradigm by which we live, work, and interact.
The Sloan Tech Club is excited to announce that RAY KURZWEIL will be the lead keynote of a packed day exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we live, work and play.
Called "the restless genius" by The Wall Street Journal and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes magazine, Kurzweil was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as the "rightful heir to Thomas Edison." PBS selected him as one of the "sixteen revolutionaries who made America." He wrote the New York Times best seller "The Singularity Is Near" and is also a Director of Engineering at Google heading up a team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding.
Come learn about how businesses are leveraging AI today, where they'll be investing tomorrow and what the fate of human society will be (seriously), with speakers such as Dennis Mortensen (x.ai), Amanda Kahlow (6sense), Illah Nourbakhsh, John Frankel (ff VC), Bruno Kurtic (Sumo Logic) and more.
Stay tuned for announcements on new speakers and participants in our emerging technology showcase. Learn more at http://www.mittechconference.com
----------------------------------
HarvardxDesign
Saturday, February 20
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Cost: $22.09–$32.64
The HarvardxDesign Conference is an annual exploration of all things design. Launched in 2012, the conference is a collaborative effort between student groups at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard Business School, and Harvard College - and the only cross-school event of its kind. The event brings together creative thinkers, design luminaries, experts from a variety of backgrounds, professors, and students to engage in and reinterpret the design process.
The Harvard GSD will host this year's event, "FailurexDesign", which is centered around the process of productive failure. We want to provide a platform for honest discussion about the role of failure in design, the many ways we can fail, but more importantly, the countless ways we can overcome it.
----------------------------------
2nd Annual Robot Race: Build-a-Bot Workshop #1
Saturday, February 20
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Vecna's Cambridge Research Lab, 36 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-robot-race-build-a-bot-workshop-1-tickets-19841870569
About the Build-A-Bot Workshops Saturday, February 20th Gear up for the Robot Race! As you begin to build, develop, and test your robot, you can attend a workshop to get hands-on advice from Vecna's team of roboticists. Three stations will be set up to workshop robot hardware, software, and electrical. Race participants are encouraged to bring their robots and their questions! Workshop welcomes all ages and skill levels. Attend one workshop, or sign up for all three: 1st workshop: Saturday, February 20th, 10am-1pm 2nd workshop: Saturday, March 12th, 10am-1pm 3rd workshop (includes practice course): Saturday, April 2, 10am-1pm About the Robot Race The Second Annual Robot Race will be held on Sunday, April 10, 2016 in Cambridge MA, near the Alewife T Station. The human course is a chip-timed 5k and the robot race is a 100 yard obstacle filled dash. Join us for prizes, food, raffles, and more! The Human 5K is a family-friendly 5K race for individuals, families and teams. Dress up as a robot or bring your unique gadgets and enhancements for special prizes. Register a robot for the Robot Race. Must have a driver (out of line-of-sight for part of the challenge) and a chaperone for the course. Drivers will be seated at the control center. Autonomous or teleoperated robots will complete an L-shaped course as quickly as possible. Robots will be required to receive a Dixie cup of confetti at the corner water stop. Robot categories and waves may be established based on the qualities of the entrants. Register for both the Human 5K and Robot Race on Active.com Why Run All proceeds benefit Vecna Cares Charitable Trust [2], a non-profit that delivers technology for a sustainable and scalable healthcare delivery infrastructure in underserved areas around the world. The application of cutting edge innovations in solving today's biggest humanitarian challenges is central to the organization's mission. The Robot Race seeks to engage the community in understanding the power of technology in answering these challenges. Our landmark support of the Ebola response has been recognized by Time Magazine, The Brookings Institute, and Computerworld . Watch this video for more information about our projects at home and abroad. How you can get involved: Sponsor a project Sign up to run as a team Sign up to run as an individual Race a robot This is a unique way to show your support of healthy communities, global health, and STEM activities. We hope you can join us! Read the about last year's event on BetaBoston!
-----------------------------------
A Gathering of the Massachusetts Green Network
Saturday, February 20
10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington Street, Wellesley
Across Massachusetts, 18 communities have passed ordinances and bylaws regulating plastic bags, 10 have passed laws reducing Styrofoam and other forms of polystyrene, and 2 have restricted the distribution of bottled water.
Now, the Mass Green Network wants to help your town join the fight against disposables. Join like-minded citizens on February 20th for our first-ever summit. Meet grassroots activists and experts working to reduce plastic waste. Panels and workshops will focus on learning what worked in other communities, understanding the hidden costs of disposables, crafting effective legislation, and building a winning campaign.
The summit is free and open to everyone who wants to be part of the solution. Register to reserve your spot today! Any questions?
The Mass Green Network is a confederation of people across Massachusetts concerned with reducing the plastic bags, Styrofoam cups, and disposable bottles that blight our communities, clog our waste streams, choke our wildlife, squander our resources, and poison our earth. Our members include people from nonprofit organizations, city and state government, green businesses, faith communities, neighborhood associations, and grassroots groups. Join us!
---------------------------------
20th Annual NEMES Model Engineering Show
Saturday, February 20
10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM
Charles River Museum of Industry, 154 Moody Street, Waltham
Cost: $5 - $10
SEE OPERATING SCALE: STEAM ENGINES GASOLINE ENGINES AIRCRAFT ENGINES STIRLING CYCLE ENGINES CLOCKS
MACHINIST’S TOOLS AND FIXTURES LOCOMOTIVES
TRACTION ENGINES
MODEL BOATS – STEAM AND GAS
AND MEET THE CRAFTSMEN WHO BUILT THEM.
EXHIBITORS SETUP STARTS AT 8:00 AM COMPRESSED AIR FOR RUNNING MODELS GAS ENGINES ALLOWED NON-MEMBER EXHIBITORS WELCOME
For additional information call the Museum at 781-893-5410 or go to http://www.neme-s.org
--------------------------------
Gardening for Pollinators
Saturday, February 20
10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Lecture Hall, Cambridge
Native plants are not only beautiful, they are undoubtedly the best source of food for pollinators, because plants and their pollinators evolved together. Covering everything from understanding how to attract specific pollinators to finding the right plants, this class will help you turn your garden into a pollinator sanctuary.
Instructor: Dan Jaffe, Propagator and Stock Bed Grower, New England Wild Flower Society
----------------------------------
Are Solar and Wind Energy going to supplant 'dirty fuels'?
Saturday, February 20
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Eastern Bank (formerly Wainwright Bank), 250 Elm Street, Somerville
Bruce Vega and Alex Rhalimi will present how energy deregulation is the and what that means for ecologically-informed visions of human life on the planet.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates each has said that energy deregulation is the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of business, and it's ongoing (from The Motley Fool).
Learn about direct carbon reduction (vs. offsets) and sustainability impacts.
When you arrive, ask to speak with Maynard Clark. Mention that you're from this meetup. Say specifically that you're there to enjoy the discussion on "Are Solar and Wind Energy going to supplant 'dirty fuels'???"
Thursday evening discussions with community forming.
Discussions and Q&A will follow each presentation.
For some interesting comparisons, bring your utility (light, electricity) bills.
Consider bringing food to share (with plates and utensils).
----------------------------------
This Changes Everything: A Film Screening + Discussion
Saturday, February 20
2 pm
Harvard, Sever Hall Room 113, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
What if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we’ll ever get to build a better world?
Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change.
Directed by Avi Lewis, and inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller This Changes Everything, the film presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond.
Join the Harvard Environmental Action Committee and the Harvard Extension Environmental Club for a screening of this incredible film.
Free and open to the public! Snacks will be served.
More at: http://green.harvard.edu/events/changes-everything-film-screening-discussion#sthash.0zSY3XML.dpuf
---------------------------
Sunday, February 21
---------------------------
Biochar, Amazonia and Global Warming: An Anthropologist's View
Sunday, February 21
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
One, Fayette Park, Cambridge
Potluck starts at 5, discussion at 6.
Anthropologist Frederique Apffel-Marglin will discuss her experiences in the Peruvian Amazon, covering the discovery and use of biochar (terra preta) to render poor soils exceptionally fertile, and examining the indigenous cultural worldview that hold valuable lessons for today's global civilization. You can view an excellent video on her work here.
Professor Apffel-Marglin is founder of the Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration, and is the author of five books, the editor or co-editor of an additional eight books and the author of more than fifty five articles and book chapters. Her interests cover ritual, gender, political ecology, critiques of development, science studies and Andean-Amazonian shamanism. Her areas of specialization are South Asia and the Amazonian Andes.
We're a small non-profit so a $10 donation is requested, but no one will be turned away based on ability to pay.
----------------------------
Monday, February 22
----------------------------
Neurocomputational systems for decision-making
Monday, February 22
10:00am - 11:00am
MIT, Building 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Bradley Doll, Ph.D.
My research program seeks to understand the human brain's multiple decision-making systems. I am interested in the computations that these systems implement to produce behavior, and how these systems cooperate and compete with one another. In this talk, I show how reinforcement learning models provide a rich computational framework for understanding these systems by making precise quantitative predictions for brain and behavior. I will present empirical tests of these predictions using behavioral, neuroimaging, and genetic measures. These studies illustrate the utility of this computational approach for the study of decision-making, yielding insight into the neurocomputational substrates of the brain's decision systems, the behaviors these systems produce, and how their relative balance affects decisions.
-------------------------------------
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - Eloise Marais, Harvard
Monday, February 22,
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Eloise Marais (Harvard)
I study degradation of air quality in Africa associated with rapid population and economic growth and the associated deleterious effects of air pollution on crops, non-crop vegetation, and human health. I have also developed an aqueous-phase chemistry mechanism for improved representation of yields and composition of isoprene secondary organic aerosol in the Southeast US.
Event website: http://bit.ly/1P33yOq
------------------------------------
The Paris Agreement
Monday, February 22
12:00PM - 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
HUCE faculty associate Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and Robert Stowe, Executive Director, Harvard Environmental Economics Program and Manager, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
HKS Energy Policy Seminar Series
This series is presented by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy/Consortium for Energy Policy Research at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. Lunch will be provided.
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
(617) 495-8693
------------------------------------
Pepsin Era - Artificially Digested Foods and the Eating Body
Monday, February 22
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room, 24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor, Cambridge
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
Lisa Haushofer, Harvard, History of Science/Chemical Heritage Foundation
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Contact Name: Shana Rabinowich
----------------------------------
Architecture Lecture: Amir Roth, The Present and Future of DOE's Energy Modeling Program
Monday, February 22
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
MIT Architecture Lecture Series
Part of the Spring 2016 Architecture and Building Technology Group Lecture Series.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, Building Technology Program
For more information, contact: Hannah Loomis
617-253-7494
-------------------------------
The Longer-Term Effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on Health and Well-being
WHEN Mon., Feb. 22, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 9 Bow Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
SPEAKER(S) Duncan Thomas, Norb F. Schaefer Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics, Global Health and Public Policy in the Department of Economics, Duke University
COST Open to all faculty, research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and students. No RSVP required.
CONTACT INFO ksmall@hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS Duncan Thomas has spent over a decade researching the aftermath and recovery of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Thomas and colleagues interviewed the same respondents annually for five years after the tsunami, and again 10 and 12 years after the tsunami. The resulting population-representative longitudinal survey data provides insight into the longer-term consequences of the disaster on a broad array of indicators of well-being. In this seminar, Dr. Thomas will trace the reconstruction of lives and livelihoods in the aftermath of the disaster, paying particular attention to the roles of personal and family resources, kinship and social networks, community strength, and the receipt and leveraging of external aid.
------------------------------
The Blockchain: Enabling a Distributed & Connected Energy Future
Monday, February 22
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Cost: $30
With the energy industry trending toward a distributed and connected future, entrepreneurs and industry leaders have an opportunity to look ahead for solutions they can start building today. Bitcoin’s underlying protocol, called “the blockchain”, is a distributed consensus-driven infrastructure enabling trust between connected assets. While currently considered only a financial tool, the blockchain’s actual capability is extremely broad.
Just as advances in TCP/IP created vast opportunities for the internet, the blockchain is enabling us to rethink the basic infrastructure of how energy is distributed, accounted for and secured. For example, microgrids could become more resilient with peer-to-peer communications. P2P enables intelligent electronic devices to share information directly without the need for a centralized system.
Also data about the asset activity, and hence the value, can be exchanged instantaneously 24/7, giving rise to new business models and applications for many distributed energy sources as well as increasing the security and reliability of the grid.
Sound exciting? Join us to learn:
What is the blockchain, really…isn’t it just a financial tool?
Why blockchain is and isn’t like the internet
How can entrepreneurs and industry leaders leverage blockchain technology?
What is the business impact, opportunities and potential disintermediation?
What are the regulatory hurdles and how might blockchain help us address issues of national security?
Speakers
Our distinguished panel will kick off with:
Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
Phone: 617-253-8240
Email: agoggins@mit.edu
Website: http://www.mitforumcambridge.org
------------------------------------
Re-thinking Local: A Cross-regional Dialogue about Strategies for Local Practice in Cities
WHEN Mon., Feb. 22, 6:30 p.m. – Tue., Feb. 23, 2016, 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S010, 1730 Cambridge Street, and Portico 124, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard South Asia Institute, Boston Society of Architects Foundation, Harvard Asia Center, and Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative.
SPEAKER(S) These two public events feature Vo Trong Nghia, the most prolific contemporary architect in Vietnam, and Marina Tabassum, the leading female architect in Bangladesh – both speaking at Harvard for the first time.
In addition, Nghia and Tabassum will be joined in a round-table discussion by Michael Murphy, Executive Director of MASS Design Group, and Rahul Mehrotra, Professor of Urban Design and Planning at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
DETAILS
“Re-thinking Local” will examine how architects are developing new models of locally-based design practice given the changing realities of urbanization around the world, with a particular focus on South and Southeast Asia.
This public discussion program will thematically explore how architects are responding to new patterns of urbanization, creating models for construction and fabrication that support sustainable development, and catalyzing local institutions to promote dialogue about the role of design in improving cities. Together, the work of these architects gives new meaning to the model of practicing locally.
----------------------------
Tuesday, February 23
-----------------------------
Boston Society of Architects Tiny House Presentation
Tuesday, February 23
8:30 AM
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress Street, 2nd floor, Boston
The Boston Society of Architects is hosting a presentation about tiny houses -- more details forthcoming.
Speakers:
Tracey Powell, local owner and designer of a high-end, custom tiny house.
Some folks from Getaway, the Harvard start-up that builds and rents out tiny houses in natural settings within 2 hours of Boston.
-------------------------------------
Digital Preservation UnConference by NDSR
Tuesday, February 23
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/digital-preservation-unconference-by-ndsr-registration-20106993559
We are pleased to announce the first Digital Preservation UnConference hosted by the National Digital Stewardship Residency program in Boston. This event will be held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. We invite you to the library on February 23rd, 2015 to discuss digital preservation issues and solutions.
An UnConference is more informal than the professional conferences you may be used to, but the goal is the same: sharing ideas and starting the conversation. Instead of a program committee deciding on sessions, we leave the schedule up to the attendees! You can propose a session ahead of time on the Propose page or the morning of the event, then we will break for coffee and voting. We will put together the schedule based on the votes and post it on the event website and on the wall at the event.
More information about the event can be found on the website: jfkdigipres.wordpress.com
Follow @jfkdigipres on Twitter for updates!
-----------------------------------------
Brown Bag: Towards an Open Science Publishing Platform
Tuesday, February 23
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E25-117
Speaker: Vitek Tracz
The traditional way of publishing new findings in journals is becoming increasingly outdated and no longer serves the needs of much of science. Vitek will discuss a new approach being developed by F1000, an Open Science Platform, that combines immediate publication (like a preprint) with formal, invited, and transparent post-publication peer review. This bypasses the many problems of the current journal system and, in doing so, moves the evaluation of research and researchers away from the journal-based Impact Factor and towards a fairer system of article-based qualitative and quantitative indicators. In the long term, it should be irrelevant where a researcher publishes their findings. As well as this new way to publish research, Vitek will also describe the other two components of the F1000: F1000Prime, an article-level recommendation and evaluation service from over 12,000 leading researchers, and F1000Workspace, a set of tools to help authors to discover literature, collect reference libraries, write articles and collaborate. Suitable for those already published and those looking to be published, bring your lunch and join Vitek Tracz and Micah Altman from the Information Science program for this February Brown Bag program.
Web site: http://informatics.mit.edu/event/towards-open-science-publishing-platform-brown-bag-vitek-tracz
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Brigham Fay
617-253-5686
------------------------------------------
Developing Effective Citizen Responses to Discrimination and Harassment Online
Tuesday, February 23
12pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Matias#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Matias at 12:00 pm.
with Berkman Fellow, Nathan Matias
Discrimination and harassment have been persistent problems since the earliest days of the social web. As platforms and legislators continue to debate and engineer responses, most of the burden of dealing with online discrimination and harassment has mostly been borne by the online citizens who experience and respond to these problems.
How can everyday Internet citizens make sense of social problems online, including our own racist and sexist behavior? How can we support each other and cooperate towards change in meaningful, effective ways? And how can we know that our interventions are making a difference?
MIT PhD candidate Nathan Matias shares four years of research and design interventions aimed at expanding the power of citizens to understand and develop effective responses to discrimination and harassment online.
About Nathan
Nathan Matias is a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab Center for Civic Media with Ethan Zuckerman and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. His research interests focus on social computing, collective action, and citizen-led social science. Nathan has collaborated with a wide range of social media companies, news organizations, and advocates to better understand issues of gender discrimination, harassment, and social movements online. His PhD explores methods for digital citizens to conduct data science and field experiments to monitor problems and evaluate their responses to social problems online.
Before MIT, Nathan worked in tech startups that have reached over a billion users, helped start a series of education and journalistic charities, and studied postcolonial literature at the University of Cambridge and Elizabethtown College. He has published data journalism and in The Atlantic, PBS, the Guardian, and other international media.
------------------------------------------
Planetary Lunch Colloquium Series (PlCS): Exploring Europa: A Potentially Habitable World
Tuesday, February 23
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
MIT, Building 54-517 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker(s): Bob Pappalardo (JPL) (via Skype)
After many years of study, NASA recently selected a highly capable suite of remote sensing and in situ instruments for a mission to explore Europa and investigate its habitability through multiple close flybys. The mission will interrogate the moon's ice shell, ocean, composition, and geology including any current activity. This presentation will summarize both our state of knowledge about Europa and the synergistic science potential of NASA's mission to explore Europa and investigate its habitability. | The MIT Planetary Lunch Colloquium Series [PlCS] is a weekly seminar series organized within the EAPS department. Colloquia topics span the range of research interests of the department's planetary sciences research program. A light lunch is provided. For questions contact Isabel Lee (shingpei@mit.edu).
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
Web site: http://bit.ly/1SkEd2K
------------------------------------
Slow Way Home: How the Japanese Have Preserved a Universal Walk-to-School System
WHEN Tue., Feb. 23, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Len Schoppa, professor of comparative politics and associate dean for the social sciences, University of Virginia
Moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
------------------------------------
Rethinking Law and Planning
Tuesday, February 23
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-450, Samuel Tak Lee Building, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Nicholas Blomley, Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser University, speaks on issues of law and planning. Title to be added as soon as available.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact: Phil Sunde
617 253 9315
------------------------------------
E. J. Dionne
Tuesday, February 23
3:00-4:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
E.J. Dionne is a journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post. He is also a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at the McCourt School of Public Policy, a Senior Research Fellow at Saint Anselm College, and an NPR, MSNBC, and PBS commentator. He is the author of several books; most recently Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond, which was published in January 2016.
------------------------------------
CRISPR Biology and the Future of Genome Engineering
Tuesday, February 23
4pm
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley
------------------------------------
Social Ties and Local Governance: Toward a Theory of Social Institutions
Tuesday, February 23
4:00-5:30 p.m.
Harvard, Allison Dining Room, Taubman Building-5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Description: A seminar with Ellen Lust, Founding Director of the Programs on Governance and Local Development at Yale University and at the University of Gothenburg, and Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg.
Moderated by Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations, HKS.
Why do some communities provide secure environments, good education, adequate health care, and other factors that promote human development, while others fail to do so? What determines whether or not decision-making is transparent, leaders are accountable, and citizens enjoy good governance? These questions are key for policy makers, development specialists, and others who seek to improve the lives of millions who suffer from violence, poor education, unattended illnesses, and a lack of opportunity at the hands of corrupt leaders. The search for answers to these questions has tended to focus on political and administrative institutions, the impact of which has been examined largely at the national level; however, social institutions play a critical role in shaping outcomes. As Elinor Ostrom (1990, 1992) points out, community norms, or local social institutions, combine with broader political institutions to determine when communities can overcome collective-action problems. Social structures can help overcome typical common-pool resource problems, helping to explain when communities can join together to foster service provision, resolve disputes, or hold a government accountable. This talk discusses how research across disciplines and geographies highlights the impact of social institutions, the formal and informal rules governing social relationships between individuals within the community, on governance and development, and presents an initial framework that allows us to go beyond individual studies and toward a unified theory of social institutions.
About Ellen Lust: Ellen Lust is a professor in the department of political science at the University of Gothenburg and Founding Director of the Programs on Governance and Local Development at the University of Gothenburg and Yale University. Her publications include Structuring Conflict in the Arab World, and numerous volumes, including most recently Taking to the Streets: The Transformation of Arab Activism, co-edited with Lina Khatib. She has also published articles in such journals as Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, and Politics and Society. She was an associate founding editor of the newly interdisciplinary journal, Middle East Law and Governance, and now chairs its board of directors.
Contact: Middle East Initiative
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
124 Mt. Auburn Street Suite 100 Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard Kennedy School
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Phone: (617) 495-4087
Fax: (617) 496-9688
------------------------------------
Askwith Forum: The Pursuit of Hipponess
WHEN Tue., Feb. 23, 2016, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Education, Humanities, Lecture, Poetry/Prose
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Graduate School of Education
SPEAKER(S) Speaker: Sandra Boynton, author, illustrator, and songwriter
Moderator: Pamela A. Mason, M.A.T.’70, Ed.D.’75, Senior Lecturer on Education and Faculty Director, Language and Literacy Program, HGSE
Introduction: James E. Ryan, Dean and Charles William Eliot Professor, HGSE
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
DETAILS Cartoonist Sandra Boynton presents an up-tempo visual retrospective of her work, starting in 1973 with the quirky greeting cards she began designing in college, and then on through her many children’s books, five record albums of what she calls “renegade children’s music,” and her seven film shorts. In the subsequent conversation with Senior Lecturer Pamela Mason, Boynton will consider her work and offbeat career in the context of her own education (from Kindergarten through 12th Grade) at Germantown Friends School, a Quaker school in Philadelphia.
Sandra is the third of four daughters of renowned teacher and publisher Robert W. Boynton, M.A.T.'47, who received his Masters of Arts in Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Harvard Book Store will sell books and CDs. A signing will follow the forum.
------------------------------------
Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond
Tuesday, February 23
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Cost: $5.00 - $30.50, On Sale February 2, 2016
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed NPR commentator and Washington Post columnist E.J. DIONNE JR. for a discussion of his latest book, Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond.
About Why the Right Went Wrong
Why the Right Went Wrong offers a historical view of the right since the 1960s. Its core contention is that American conservatism and the Republican Party took a wrong turn when they adopted Barry Goldwater’s worldview during and after the 1964 campaign. The radicalism of today’s conservatism is not the product of the Tea Party, E.J. Dionne writes. The Tea Partiers are the true heirs to Goldwater ideology. The purity movement did more than drive moderates out of the Republican Party—it beat back alternative definitions of conservatism.
Since 1968, no conservative administration—not Nixon not Reagan not two Bushes—could live up to the rhetoric rooted in the Goldwater movement that began to reshape American politics fifty years ago. The collapse of the Nixon presidency led to the rise of Ronald Reagan, the defeat of George H.W. Bush, to Newt Gingrich’s revolution. Bush initially undertook a partial modernization, preaching “compassionate conservatism” and a “Fourth Way” to Clinton’s “Third Way.” Conservatives quickly defined him as an advocate of “big government” and not conservative enough on spending, immigration, education, and Medicare. A return to the true faith was the only prescription on order. The result was the Tea Party, which Dionne says, was as much a reaction to Bush as to Obama.
The state of the Republican party, controlled by the strictest base, is diminished, Dionne writes. It has become white and older in a country that is no longer that. It needs to come back to life for its own health and that of the country’s, and in Why the Right Went Wrong, he explains how.
------------------------------------
A Bike Safety Forum - How Can We Change State Law To Make Cycling Safer?
Tuesday, February 23
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Suffolk University, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
On Tuesday February 23, 2016 from 6:00-8:30PM at Suffolk University a group of state legislators are hosting a forum on bicycle safety. The conversation will center around possible changes to state law and the rules of the road that can make cycling safer, with a focus on cyclist/large vehicle crashes. Representatives from the trucking industry, Boston, Cambridge, the Carmen’s Union, and the MBTA will give brief presentations followed by breakout sessions where ideas for possible legislation will be presented. After the breakout sessions audience members will vote on their preferred solutions. For more information visit: MABikeSafety.com. We encourage attendees to share the news of this event and use the hashtag #MABikeSafety in social media.
FAQs
Is a ticket and ID required to enter the event?
No ticket is required and the event is free and open to the public. However, our venue host Suffolk University requests ID to enter 120 Tremont. If you have registered via this Eventbrite page, your name will be on a list and this will speed your entry. Your registration is also appreciated so we may plan for seating and refreshments.
What is the nearest T stop?
Suffolk University Boston is located nearly across the street from Park Street Station on the Green Line.
Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?
You may contact Andrew Bettinelli in Senator Brownsberger's office at Andrew.Bettinelli@masenate.gov
---------------------------------
Reverse Engineering, and Repairing, the Brain and Mind
MIT Sidney Pacific Committee on Scholarly Interactions (CoSI) | Sebastian Palacios
Tuesday, February 23
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EST)
MIT Sidney Pacific, 70 Pacific Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/reverse-engineering-and-repairing-the-brain-and-mind-tickets-21434190240
Leading a group of the most brilliant and groundbreaking MIT engineers as directors of the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering (CNBE), Dr. Alan Jasanoff and Dr. Ed Boyden make a historic visit to the MIT graduate residences for a lecture and interactive panel discussion about the quest to solve one of the greatest challenges of our time. Dr. Boyden and Dr. Jasanoff have received numerous awards for some of the most groundbreaking work in neuroscience and neuroengineering of the 21st century. Their work is revolutionizing the study of the brain, including understanding neural mechanisms, brain disease, cognition, memory and more.
Send us your questions for Dr. Boyden and Dr. Jasanoff during registration, or post it to social media with the hashtag #neuroMITSP. The top questions will be selected days in advance, used during the panel discussion, and will win an invitation for dinner with Dr. Boyden and Dr. Jasanoff after lecture and panel discussion. The event will feature a live social media feed.
For current posts, see: https://tagboard.com/neuroMITSP/265887
*****************
----------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------
*****************
--------------------------------
Wednesday, February 24
--------------------------------
The American Experience of Nation-Building in South Vietnam
Wednesday, February 24
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Andrew Gawthorpe (Harvard University)
SSP Wednesday Seminar Series
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617-253-7529
--------------------------------------
Learning in Strategic Environments: Theory and Data
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Refreshments: 1:45 PM
MIT, Building 32-D463, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Vasilis Syrgkanis , Microsoft Research
ABSTRACT: The strategic interaction of multiple parties with different objectives is at the heart of modern large scale computer systems and electronic markets. Participants face such complex decisions in these settings that the classic economic equilibrium is not a good predictor of their behavior. The analysis and design of these systems has to go beyond equilibrium assumptions. Evidence from online auction marketplaces suggests that participants rather use algorithmic learning. In the first part of the talk, I will describe a theoretical framework for the analysis and design of efficient market mechanisms, with robust guarantees that hold under learning behavior, incomplete information and in complex environments with many mechanisms running at the same time. In the second part of the talk, I will describe a method for analyzing datasets from such marketplaces and inferring private parameters of participants under the assumption that their observed behavior is the outcome of a learning algorithm. I will give an example application on datasets from Microsoft's sponsored search auction system.
BIO: Vasilis Syrgkanis is a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research NYC, where he is a member of the algorithmic economics and machine learning groups. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2014, under the supervision of Prof. Eva Tardos. His research addresses problems at the intersection of theoretical computer science, machine learning and economics. His work received best paper awards at the 2015 ACM Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'15) and at the 2015 Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS'15). He was the recipient of the Simons Fellowship for graduate students in theoretical computer science 2012-2014.
Contact: Joanne Talbot Hanley, 617-253-4602, joanne@csail.mit.edu
--------------------------------------
Experimental Evidence on the Demand for and Costs of Rural Electrification
Wednesday, February 24
2:45p–4:00p
MIT, Building E51-376, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ted Miguel (Berkeley)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Development Economics Seminar
For more information, contact:
economics calendar
--------------------------------------
February Colloquium - The Affect Agenda: How Image and Emotion Influence Voters
Wednesday, February 24
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Boston University, COM 209, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
When facing complex political decisions, voters tend to rely on their first impression and visceral reaction to form their opinion, but then endeavor to come up with a rational reason to justify it. Dr. H. Denis Wu presents studies of recent U.S. presidential elections showing that images of political candidates indeed influence voters at both aggregate and individual levels. Other topics such as the role of visual and verbal cues in communicating affective information, whether positive or negative tone is more powerful, and the role of emotion in agenda-setting effects will be discussed.
-------------------------------------
LOHAFEX - Lessons from the last iron fertilization experiment
Wednesday, February 24
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Stefan Thiele, Polz Lab, MIT
Microbial Systems Seminar
Web site: https://microbialsystems.wordpress.com
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Kathryn Kauffman
-------------------------------------
Europe and the Geopolitics of Energy: The Economics of Shale Gas & Tight Oil Production
Wednesday, February 24
4:00PM TO 5:30PM
Dr. Robert L. Kleinberg, Schlumberger
Unconventional energy resources may change not only the American energy situation but also global energy markets and the geopolitics-of-energy in fundamental ways, including in Europe. This seminar on the economics of shale gas and tight oil production will focus on their costs and breakeven points and how they change; resources in the USA vs Europe; tax and regulatory systems in the USA vs ROW; geological, geographical and geopolitical risks; and infrastructural bottlenecks.
Contact Name: Ole Gunnar Austvik
--------------------------------------
Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors
Wednesday, February 24
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Littauer 382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Stephen Holland, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Erin Mansur, Dartmouth, Nicholas Muller, Middlebury College, and Andrew Yates, University of North Carolina
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
For more information, contact Professor Stavins (617-495-1820), Professor Weitzman (617-495-5133), or the course assistant, Jason Chapman (617-496-8054).
Contact Name: Bryan J. Galcik
--------------------------------------
Conversation with Karim Ben Khelifa and Fox Harrell: VR. AI, and Installation Art
Wednesday, February 24
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building E51-335, Tang Center, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
CAST Visiting Artist Karim Ben Khelifa, an award-winning photojournalist, and Fox Harrell, Associate Professor and Director of the Imagination, Computation and Expression (ICE) Laboratory, will discuss The Enemy, an immersive installation using virtual reality. Ben Khelifa and Harrell are integrating concepts from cognitive science and Artificial Intelligence-based interaction models into the project to engender empathy. This event is sponsored by Arts at MIT in collaboration with the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
Registration required.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NCPCsaqhbti3C5Zf-ptImfGMfbvRuwcLo5sPqW-kMa8/viewform?c=0&w=1
Sponsor(s): Arts at MIT
For more information, contact: Leah Talatinian
617.252.1888
--------------------------------------
Intersections of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Science: China, India, and Israel
Wednesday, February 24
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building E52-Dining Rooms 5+6, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Yasheng Huang, Professor S.P. Kothari
MISTI Faculty Directors and senior MIT leadership will share their perspective on the challenges and opportunities between China, India and Israel in three key intersections and MIT's potential role. Moderated by Professor Christine Ortiz.
Please RSVP by February 14th through the link below.
Web site: https://misti.typeform.com/to/y4D4XA
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT India Program, MISTI, MISTI MIT-Israel Program, MIT-China Program
For more information, contact: Molly Gallagher
617- 452-2479
-------------------------------------
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Date:
Wednesday, February 24
6:00pm
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Joseph Henrich, Professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University and Co-director of the Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture, University of British Columbia
Lecture and Book Signing
The ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another has allowed us to create ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have enabled successful expansion into myriad environments. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscience, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich, author of The Secret of Our Success, will discuss how our collective intelligence has propelled our species’ evolution.
--------------------------------------
Great Decisions Series | Cities and Climate Change: Boston at the Paris Climate Conference
Wednesday, February 24
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Suffolk University Law School, Room 295, 120 Tremont Street, Boston
Join Austin Blackmon, the City of Boston’s Chief for the Environment and Energy for a discussion on the role of cities in combating climate change. Blackmon recently represented Boston at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21), where the city received a prestigious C40 award for “Smart Cities and Smart Community Engagement,” beating out Melbourne, Australia and New York City.
Learn about how the City of Boston has become a global leader in the municipal level fight against climate change and what must be done to stymie this environmental crisis.
---------------------------------------
CSR and Sustainability: From the Margins to the Mainstream
Wednesday, February 24
6:30 PM
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street, 17th Floor, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Sustainability-Meetup/events/225650708/
Cost: $15
Do these concepts of CSR and Sustainability have any meaning at all?
Michael Hopkins and Deborah Leipziger will present the key points of Michael's new book to be published by Greenleaf, UK at end 2015. Deborah has also been involved in its production and will share the short presentation followed by discussion and networking.
Rebecca Marsh, Publishing Director, GSE Research and Greenleaf Publishing writes:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is steadily moving from the margins to the mainstream across the spectrum of private companies, NGOs and the public sector. It has grown from being a concept embraced by a small number of companies such as The Body Shop in the early 1990s to a widespread global movement. At its weakest level, it is represented by a few philanthropic gestures by organisations, but when applied in its most complete form, it can steer the organization or sector to deliver a fully-fledged, system-wide, multi-stakeholder operation, accompanied by multiple types of certification.
For the first time, a book brings together key issues relating to CSR as they apply to different aspects of business; it is not another generalist title about CSR. Michael Hopkins, a leading expert in the field, is joined by a number of outstanding contributors to the book, to explain how CSR has evolved since the 1990s and to offer ground-breaking insights and practical and specific applications of the concept. For example, Mervyn King explains Integrating Reporting, Deborah Leipziger looks at CSR, Branding and the Supply Chain, George Starcher provides a framework for Socially Responsible Restructuring, and Adrian Henriques explores Social Accounting and Stakeholder Dialogue.
A one-stop reference book for professionals and students of CSR
Contributions from leading specialists in the application of CSR
Translates well-established theories into practical tools
We have to make charge to ensure we have a properly set up room ($15). Happily we shall also offer soft drinks, wine and a quick bite. Kindly pay at the door.
---------------------------------
Rising Tide: Planning for Boston's Uncertain Future
Wednesday, February 24
7pm
Museum of Science, Museum Of Science Driveway, Boston
How do rising sea levels impact our region? Learn what architects, engineers, and urban planners are doing to make the coastal infrastructure around the Boston area more resilient to our changing climate. How do we make decisions when we don’t have all of the information we need? What are the most important factors to consider? Add your voice to a conversation about preparing for the future with planners and stakeholders who are facing these decisions. Refreshments available starting at 6:30 pm.
Advance registration begins at 9:00 am, Wednesday, February 10 (Monday, February 8 for Museum members).
Presented in collaboration with the Boston Harbor Association and Northeastern University.
Funding provided by the Northeastern University Marine Science Center through its partnership with the Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Program.
Program Speakers
Ellen Douglas, associate professor of hydrology, UMass-Boston
Brian Helmuth, professor of marine and environmental sciences, Northeastern University
Paul Kirshen, professor of climate adaptation, UMass-Boston
Julie Wormser, executive director, The Boston Harbor Association
-----------------------------
Thursday, February 25
-----------------------------
Policy Podium: Net Metering
Thursday, February 25
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
50 Milk Street, 15th floor, Start-Up Institute area, Boston
Cost: $0 - $25
An open discussion with experts from our community of professionals about moving forward with solar and net metering in Massachusetts. As recent legislative activities have shown, solar advocates and our House legislative leaders are not able to see a shared path forward for net metering.
What do we need to know, to be effective advocates, about the energy system? How can we all work together to ensure our communities are moving toward sustainability? Of the many complexities of the electricity grid, what do green building advocates need to address as we push for change on behalf of our mission?
The obstacles to a resolution to net metering and energy procurment seem to center around the cost of solar in Massachusetts, yet there is currently no action on the Net Metering Task Force (NMTF) recommendation to study the monetary costs and benefits of distributed generation solar.
A panel composed of NMTF members will gather to discuss issues of net metering caps including:
Comparative solar project costs and financing
Present and future cost impacts to classes of electricity consumers
Impacts of grid modernization, requirements of the Green Communities Act
Cost benefits of distributed generation solar
We are looking forward to hearing from both sides and collaborating on ideas to move forward!
The panelists will include:
David Colton, Easton Town Administrator
Charles Harak, National Consumer Law
Tim Roughan, National Grid
Matt Shortsleeve, Solect Energy
This event will be held at 50 Milk Street, 18th floor, "Hemmingway" conference room, Boston, MA.
-----------------------------------
Mapping Stories of the City: Teaching Urban Environmental Justice
Thursday, February 25
12pm
Tufts, Rabb room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Most talks will be streamed lived at Bit.ly/TuftsLunchLearn
Lai Ying Yu
What makes a city thrive? What role does community play in urban vitality? This talk examines how stories of place and community shape understandings of urban space and ideas of progress. The second part of this talk examines how story-telling through short videos, interactive maps, and community interviews can be tools for supporting environmental justice efforts. In particular, we will look at Google MyMaps and the census tool Social Explorer to examine how these may be additional platforms for engaging residents in complex urban development changes.
----------------------------------
Wicked Good Causes
Thursday, February 25
12:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, #1, Cambridge
Cost: $11
Thursday, February 25 starting at 12pm noon we are gathering together leaders of great causes from all over Massachusetts and New England for an event of perspective changing talks, pitches and networking opportunities related to good causes for a better world. Tickets will be $20 at the door.
------------------------------------
How Numbers Lie: Intersectional Violence and the Quantification of Race
WHEN Thu., Feb. 25, 2016, 4:15 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library; visiting professor, City University of New York
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Tracing the genealogy of statistical discourses on race, Muhammad explores the violence of racial quantification on black women and men’s lives beginning in the postbellum period. How did the numbers of out of wedlock childbirths or incarcerated men come to define the progress and potential of African Americans by contrast to others? Why have such facts spoken for themselves as is so often said today? Or have they?
------------------------------
Starr Forum: With Friends Like These: Discussion addressing US allies and ISIS
Thursday, February 25
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Barry R Posen (moderator), Kristin Fabbe, Christine Fair, Sarah Leah Whitson,
Moderator will be MIT Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Security Studies Program, Barry R Posen.
Speakers Include:
Kristin Fabbe
Fabbe is an assistant professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit at Harvard, where she teaches the course of the same name in the MBA required curriculum. Her primary expertise is in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Middle East and southeastern Europe, particularly Turkey.
Christine Fair
Dr. Fair is an associate professor in the Peace and Security Studies Program, within Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Previously, she has served as a senior political scientist with the RAND Corporation, a political officer to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul, and as a senior research associate in USIP's Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention.
Sarah Leah Whitson
Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, oversees the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. She has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and political rights.
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
------------------------------
Medical Ethics in Emergencies, from Katrina to Ebola and Beyond
Thursday, February 25
5:00pm to 6:30pm
Harvard, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall 110, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Sheri Fink is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown, 2013) about choices made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The talk will be followed by a book signing with the author.
For centuries, philosophers have mulled the ideal ways to divide the goods of society. More recently that question has been applied to medicine. Perhaps the most acute, life-and-death version of this conundrum arises in emergencies--who gets care when there doesn't seem to be enough for everyone? Dr. Sheri Fink, a New York Times correspondent and author of Five Days at Memorial, will illustrate the dilemmas for medical professionals, journalists, and the broader public with examples arising in recent disasters.
-----------------------------
Vincent Brown: "Designing Histories of Slavery for the Database Age"
Thursday, February 25
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Multimedia scholarship invites reconsideration of how history has been, could be, and should be represented. By wrestling creatively and collectively with the difficult archival problems presented by social history of slavery, Harvard's Vincent Brown hopes to chart new pathways for pondering history's most painful and vexing subjects. This presentation considers three graphic histories of slavery -- a web-based animation of Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, a cartographic narrative of the Jamaican slave revolt of 1760-61, and a web-based archive of enslaved family lineages in Jamaica and Virginia -- that illustrate how the archive of slavery is more than the records bequeathed to us by the past; the archive also includes the tools we use to explore it, the vision that allows us to see its traces, and the design decisions that communicate our sense of history's possibilities.
Multi-media historian Vincent Brown is Charles Warren Professor of History, Professor of African and African-American Studies, and Director of the History Design Studio at Harvard University. His research, writing, teaching, and other creative endeavors are focused on the political dimensions of cultural practice.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/vincent-brown-designing-histories-of-slavery-for-the-database-age/
More info: 617-324-0490
-------------------------------
Migration & Human Trafficking: A Panel Discussion with BU Experts
Thursday, February 25
6:00 PM
Boston University, Hillel House, 213 Bay State Road, 4th floor, Boston
----------------------------------
Signs of a Warming World
Thursday, February 25
6:00AM TO 7:00AM
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Boston
RSVP at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu
Cost: Fee Free members, students, and Tree Spotters; $5 nonmember
The temperature of the Earth is increasing, but what does that mean? And what effect will this have on people and ecosystems? Climate scientist will review some of the myriad indicators scientists monitor to understand the direction and pace of ongoing climate change, including changes in temperature, the cryosphere (snow, ice), and the hydrologic cycle (floods, droughts, sea level rise). Benjamin I. Cook, Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, will discuss what these changes mean for species in the natural environment and our own societies. And he will touch on what we can expect in the future if we allow climate change to continue apace, and what options we may have to ameliorate, or adapt to, in a world that will be much warmer at the end of the 21st century than any time of the last several thousand years.
-------------------------------
"Cities of the Future" - Real Life Examples of Cognitive Computing
Thursday, February 25
6:30 PM
IBM Innovation Center, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
We are pleased to announce our 2nd event in the series "Real Life Examples of Cognitive Computing". We are fortunate to have two visionaries who use big data and machine learning to improve the designs for Cities of the Future.
Presenter 1: Kelly Jin - Head of Data Analytics for the City of Boston
Kelly will describe how the City of Boston uses big data to improve quality of life of citizens and enhance its service delivery. By integrating multiple data sources with intelligence models, Boston’s Citywide Analytics Team helps improve the quality of services, visualizes data that provides life-saving information, all the while keeping Mayor Walsh and City leadership apprised of the real-time status of critical metrics.
Presenter 2: Paolo Santi – Lead Researcher at MIT's Senseable City Lab
Paolo is an internationally acclaimed expert in mobility data. Hailing from the University of Pisa in Italy, Paolo is currently leading the Ambient Mobility studies at MIT’s Senseable City Lab where he uses advanced machine learning techniques for urban data analysis. Paolo will describe how data from millions of cell-phones and taxi-trips is used to model and predict pedestrian and vehicle traffic flow for planning and route management by public and commercial transportation services.
-------------------------------
Diversified Thought @ Hatch Fenway
Thursday, February 25
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM (EST)
Hatch Fenway, "The Coop," Landmark Center 8th Floor East Elevators, 401 Park Drive, Boston
Join the Hatch Fenway Community in a conversation designed to bring inspiration and support to young disruptive entrepreneurs, founders and students. Diversified Thought is a conversation around Minorities & Diversity in Tech. Diversity is imperative to building a stronger innovation economy; more markets can be reached with a wider range of bright ideas in the marketplace. Additionally, it’s just good business! Diversified Thought is on the forefront of the drive to increase Minorities & Diversity in Boston's Tech Ecosystem and the global industry.
-------------------------
Friday, February 26
-------------------------
The New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable (149)
Panel I: Two Keynote Addresses on Regional Energy Issues
Panel II: Enabling Consumers in NE: New Technologies, Practices, & Policies to Transform Retail Energy Markets
Friday, February 26
9 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
Cost: $0 - $65
Livestream RSVP at https://signup.clickstreamtv.com/event/raab/events/
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Matthew Beaton and Québec Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Pierre Arcand (invited) will provide keynote addresses on state, provincial, and regional energy plans and issues.
These keynote addresses will be followed by a timely topic:
Enabling Consumers in New England: New Technologies, Practices, & Policies to Transform Retail Energy Markets.
Think of this panel as a critically important companion to the Utility of the Future and Grid Modernization discussions. It will cover a range of related topics, from technologies and software to better financing mechanisms, to important market design issues and policy levers. We have a stellar panel of leading practitioners and companies working on ways to enable customers to better manage their energy use (rates/bills, energy efficiency, demand response, distributed renewables, storage, and EVs).
The panel will cover current applied research in the field; how competitive suppliers in Texas are able to engage residential customers in new ways; New York's unfolding REV vision of the consumer of the future; using innovative methods to engage small and medium commercial customers; and how policy reform in New England can help unleash the energy consumer of the future. Speaking on this panel are:
Harvey Michaels, Director Energy Mgt. Research, MIT (Sloan)
Jim Steffes, EVP Corporate Affairs, Direct Energy
Jim Gallagher, Exec. Director, NY State Smart Grid Consortium
Tim Healy, Chairman & CEO, EnerNOC
Dan Allegretti, VP State Government Affairs (East), Exelon
-----------------------------------
2016 MassDiGI Game Challenge - General Admission
Friday, February 26, 2016 at 9:30 AM - Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 6:00 PM (EST)
Microsoft NERD Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-massdigi-game-challenge-general-admission-registration-19874590435
The MassDiGI Game Challenge is a one-of-a-kind competition event that helps aspiring game developers launch new games. The Game Challenge will be held on February 26-27, 2016 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, MA. Featuring panel discussions, keynote talks and more - you won’t want to miss this! A general admission ticket gives you the chance to check out everything, hear the talks, listen to the panels, network and have a blast! The Game Challenge will feature:
Competitive Game Challenge w/ Great Prizes: Check out the entered games in one of three levels (Indie, College and High School) and in one of two categories (Best Entertainment Game or Best Serious Game).
Educational Programming: Day 1 of the Game Challenge will feature sessions to help teams fine-tune their pitch for the judging committee. Mini-sessions will focus on the topics of art, design, business and technology.
Indie Game Showcase: What would a Game Challenge be without a few games to play! The regional indie community is full of extremely talented individuals with great ideas on the cutting edge of game development. Teams and general attendees will have a chance to network with and, more importantly, play some of the great Indie games created in our own backyards.
Whether you are a small developer looking to breakout or a student exploring job opportunities, after attending the MassDiGI Game Challenge you’ll be guaranteed to walk away with valuable new connections and a better understanding of this exciting industry.
REGISTER EARLY!
NOTE: The deadline for general admission registration is Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 5pm ET!
Registration for both competing teams and general attendees is limited, so we encourage all interested parties to sign up as early as possible.
-----------------------------------
Urban air pollution: It's getting better all the time?
Friday, February 26
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
William H. Brune, Pennsylvania State University
Speaker Bio: http://www.met.psu.edu/people/whb2
Atmospheric Sciences Seminar
Host: Adam Birdsall
Email: abirdsall@g.harvard.edu
-----------------------------------
How Machine Learning Helps Count Casualties in Syria
Friday, February 26, 2016 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Lunch 12:30pm; Talk 1pm
Megan Price, Director of Research at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group
IACS Seminar Series
Contact: Natasha Baker
Phone: 617-496-2623
Email: iacs-info@seas.harvard.edu
-----------------------------------
Lessons in Censorship: How Schools and Courts Subvert Students' First Amendment Rights
Friday, February 26
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes CATHERINE J. ROSS, Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard School of Education, for a discussion of her book Lessons in Censorship: How Schools and Courts Subvert Students' First Amendment Rights.
About Lessons in Censorship
American public schools often censor controversial student speech that the Constitution protects. Lessons in Censorship brings clarity to a bewildering array of court rulings that define the speech rights of young citizens in the school setting. Catherine J. Ross examines disputes that have erupted in our schools and courts over the civil rights movement, war and peace, rights for LGBTs, abortion, immigration, evangelical proselytizing, and the Confederate flag. She argues that the failure of schools to respect civil liberties betrays their educational mission and threatens democracy.
From the 1940s through the Warren years, the Supreme Court celebrated free expression and emphasized the role of schools in cultivating liberty. But the Burger, Rehnquist, and Roberts courts retreated from that vision, curtailing certain categories of student speech in the name of order and authority. Drawing on hundreds of lower court decisions, Ross shows how some judges either misunderstand the law or decline to rein in censorship that is clearly unconstitutional, and she powerfully demonstrates the continuing vitality of the Supreme Court’s initial affirmation of students’ expressive rights. Placing these battles in their social and historical context, Ross introduces us to the young protesters, journalists, and artists at the center of these stories.
Lessons in Censorship highlights the troubling and growing tendency of schools to clamp down on off-campus speech such as texting and sexting and reveals how well-intentioned measures to counter verbal bullying and hate speech may impinge on free speech. Throughout, Ross proposes ways to protect free expression without disrupting education.
--------------------------------
IRAN: Women Only
Friday, February 26
3:00p–4:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, Lucian Pye Conference Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: photojournalist Randy H. Goodman
Photo exhibit by photojournalist Randy H. Goodman
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
-----------------------------------
Cinematheque: An Evening with Robb Moss
Friday, February 26
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Boston University, COM 101, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
AN EVENING WITH ROBB MOSS. Moss, a filmmaking professor at Harvard and prolific documentarian, will show Containment, co-directed by Harvard physics professor, Peter Galison. Its a real-life sci-fi dystopian tale of radioactive waste proliferating the globe and nobody in charge aware of how to stop its dangers. Will you sleep at night after seeing this film?
-----------------------------
Saturday, February 27
-----------------------------
How to Save the World
Saturday, February 27
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge
Cost: $12
AFTER GETTING A SUGGESTION OF A WORLD ISSUE, A NEVER BEFORE SEEN PRESENTATION IS GIVEN AS TO HOW TO SOLVE THAT PROBLEM AND THEN WE LEARN HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD.
SPOILER ALERT: ITS THROUGH LAUGHTER.
-----------------------------------
Sustainability and Environmental Management: Panel & HEEC Social
Saturday, February 27
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM (EST)
Harvard, Maxwell-Dworkin room G115 and lobby, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Hello, SEM friends!
The Sustainability and Environmental Management program invites you to a special panel from 4:00-6:00 p.m. in Maxwell-Dworkin G-115 featuring faculty and students from the SEM program who will discuss their courses, professional experience, and how the program has helped them advance their careers in sustainability.
Light refreshments will be served. Join the Harvard Extension Environmental Club (HEEC) afterwards in the lobby of Maxwell-Dworkin for networking and social activities from 6:00-10:00 p.m. Catering will be provided - BYOB.
So we can estimate our food and beverage needs, and people can identify whom they might wish to mix with, please register and get your ticket to go!
And check out the roster and responses of who's attending, and download the information for reference at:
We hope to see you there!
The Harvard Extension Environmental Club
---------------------------
Monday, February 29
---------------------------
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
Monday, February 29
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Speaker: Susan Solomon (MIT)
is internationally recognized as a leader in atmospheric science, particularly for her insights in explaining the cause of the Antarctic ozone "hole". She and her colleagues have made important contributions to understanding chemistry/climate coupling, including leading research on the irreversibility of global warming linked to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, and on the influence of the ozone hole on the climate of the southern hemisphere. Her current focus is on issues relating to both atmospheric chemistry and climate change.
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar [MASS] is a student-run weekly seminar series. Topics include research concerning atmospheric science, and climate. The seminars usually take place on Mondays in 54-915 from 12.00-1pm. 2015/2016 co-ordinators: Marianna Linz (mlinz@mit.edu), John Agard (jvagard@mit.edu), and Dan Rothernberg (darothen@mit.edu).
Web site: http://bit.ly/1P33yOq
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Marianna Linz
617-253-2127
-------------------------------
Clean Power Plan Model Rules: Pathways for Implementation
Monday, February 29
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard Kennedy School, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Kate Konschnik, Lecturer on Law and Director, Environmental Policy Initiative, Harvard Law School
This series is presented by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy/Consortium for Energy Policy Research at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. Lunch will be provided.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar Series
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
(617) 495-8693
-------------------------------
Responsible Innovation and Public Values in the Dutch Shale Gas Controversy
Monday, February 29
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room, 24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor, Cambridge
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
Behnam Taebi, Harvard, HKS Belfer Center
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
Contact Name: Shana Rabinowich
--------------------------------
Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness
Monday, February 29
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
MIT, Building E62-450, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Steve Levitt (University of Chicago)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Microeconomic Applications
-----------------------
Tuesday, March 1
-----------------------
Boston TechBreakfast: March 2016
Tuesday, March 1
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD - Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Bagels & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words Boston TechBreakfast
--------------------------------
Nancy Gibbs, TIME
Tuesday, March 1
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Nancy Gibbs is the editor of TIME. She is the co-author, along with TIME’s Michael Duffy, of two best-selling presidential histories: The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity and The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House. She joined TIME in 1985 as a part-time fact checker in the International section. She became a writer in 1988 and has written more than 100 cover stories, including the black-bordered special issue on the September 11 attacks, which won a National Magazine Award in 2002. The Chicago Tribune named her one of the ten best magazine writers in the country in 2003; her articles are included in the Princeton Anthology of Writing, Best American Crime Writing 2004, Best American Political Writing 2005 and TIME: 85 years of Great Writing. She has been a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose, and a guest essayist on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
--------------------------------
The Future of Floating Forests in a Changing World
Tuesday, March 1
12:00pm to 1:05pm
Harvard, 22 Divinity Avenue, Seminar Room, Cambridge
Jarrett Byrnes, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston
--------------------------------
The Big Reverse of the Web: Are Our Policies and Standards Ready?
Tuesday, March 1
12:00 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/03/Buytaert at 12:00 pm.
with Open Source developer, Dries Buytaert
We're on the cusp of the next wave of the web, where information will come to people, versus people seeking it out. This "big reverse" of the web poses all sorts of issues: ranging from policy, to personal privacy, to standardization across devices. Join creator of Drupal and co-founder and CTO of Acquia Dries Buytaert as he discusses what it will take to navigate a web that doesn't look or feel anything like what we know today.
About Dries
Dries Buytaert is an Open Source developer, technology executive, academic, and hobbyist photographer with two wonderful kids. He was born and raised in Antwerp (Belgium), but moved to the Boston in 2010.
Dries is the founder and project lead of Drupal, an Open Source platform for building websites. Drupal is used by 2% of the world's websites. He is also co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Acquia, a venture-backed technology company. They provide the technology platform that helps many large organizations build and operate their digital experiences.
He's a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and holds a PhD in computer science and engineering from Ghent University and a Licentiate Computer Science (MsC) from the University of Antwerp.
Friends describe him as a "workaholic". While that may be true, he believes it's worth it as both Drupal and Acquia share a desire to enable hundreds of thousands of dreamers and doers to craft the digital world. Scaling Drupal and Acquia is the harder, less traveled path, but also the one with the biggest impact. He lives to help build the world he wants to exist in.
---------------------------------
A Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in a Digital Age
WHEN Tue., Mar. 1, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Adam Segal, Marice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program, Council on Foreign Relations
Moderated by Stephen Peter Rosen, Harvard College Professor and Beton Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
---------------------------------
Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Rosalind Picard
Tuesday, March 1
4:30 pm
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Rosalind Picard is credited with starting the branch of computer science known as affective computing, a field which explores the emotional relationships between human beings and the interface of technology with such human behaviors. The field has led to research and development in such areas as emotion recognition by robots and wearable computers. Her work has also led new directions in autism research, such as developing devices that could help people better recognize emotional nuances. She is the founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT’s Media Lab and co-director of the Media Lab’s Advancing Wellbeing Initiative. She has co-founded two businesses: Empatica, Inc. creating wearable sensors and analytics to improve health, and Affectiva, Inc. delivering technology to help measure and communicate emotion.
-------------------------------
BASG March 1: Carbon Realities
Tuesday, March 1
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe - 5th Floor, One Broadway, Cambridge
Cost: $10 - $12
Carbon plays a major role in causing climate change and, one could say, is underpriced. For now, anyway. Few, if any of us, are paying for the hidden costs of climate change that are resulting from carbon emissions. We are dedicating March 1st to talking about how we can be more effective in accounting for the impact of carbon emissions on our world and our futures and are excited to have several incredible speakers and contributors join us in this discussion.
Johanna Jobin, Director, Global EHS & Sustainability at Biogen, will share Biogen’s journey to carbon neutrality and talk about how companies are valuing carbon and taking it into account in their business strategies. No small feat for the largest MA company, this achievement follows an impressive multi-year effort to reduce energy intensity, invest in environmental projects and engage their suppliers. Before Biogen, Johanna was Head of Corporate Responsibility & Community Affairs of MilliporeSigma. She received her Master of Environmental Management degree, with a certificate in Energy and Environment, from Duke and is an ISO 14001 trained auditor. Johanna is also active with NAEM, USGBC, AIM, WPI, MSEP, the City of Cambridge Climate Protection Action Committee, and “e” inc.
State Senator Mike Barrett, D-Lexington, will bring his passion and mission to have Massachusetts lead the country by putting a price on carbon with bill S.1747, An Act combating climate change, which he introduced last year along with 46 Senators and Representatives. This website offers background. Mike represents nine MA communities and has just accepted a new appointment as Chair of the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, a special Senate body charged with examining the performance of Executive branch programs and agencies. Mike favors increasing the prices of fossil fuels to pay for the health and environmental harm they cause. Working with a growing circle of voters, environmentalists and business leaders, Mike has put the issue on the state’s political agenda.
Joe Lassiter, Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School, will address the intersection of innovation and environmental regulation, particularly as it relates to climate and carbon. Joe has extensive experience studying and teaching how high-potential ventures attack the problem of financing and bringing to market innovations that develop clean, secure and carbon-neutral supplies of reliable, low-cost energy. Joe’s long career at HBS includes several distinguished appointments and many years of teaching undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from across the University and its affiliated hospitals about how to turn high potential ventures into high-performance businesses.
We are also grateful to Eric Grunebaum and Jamie Salo for setting the stage for our discussion. Eric advises startups and facilities owners on clean energy and efficiency projects. As a senior member of environmental accounting firm Trucost, Jamie works with businesses and investors to measure and value their environmental performance.
Please join us, our guests, and our co-hosts Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Roundtable for what will be yet another very cool evening. -- Carol, Holly, Tilly.
************
--------------
Opportunity
--------------
************
Solarize Somerville is a go!
Hello neighbors--
On this cold winter day, I'm delighted to share the sunny news that Somerville MA has been chosen by the MassCEC (Clean Energy Center) to be a Solarize Mass community! You can see the announcement here:
State energy officials today announced the selection of the first five communities to participate in Solarize Mass for 2016. The new municipalities participating in the community-based solar energy group-buying program that lowers overall costs of installing solar electric systems include Somerville and Natick, as well as Shelburne, Colrain and Conway, which have joined as a trio of partner communities....
As the announcement has just been made, we don't have a lot of additional information at this time. But this selection means that we can now work with the city and the state to help residents of Somerville to decide if solar is a suitable option for them and their homes or businesses. We'll be developing and sharing educational materials, we'll have events to help people learn more and get questions answered, and we will help people to understand the processes associated with generating local, artisanal electrons.
Officially I'm the "Solar Coach" for Somerville. I am a point of contact to help people with basic solar PV issues and incentives. I'm working with folks from the city who will manage the overall project. This is a joint effort by the Office of Sustainability and Environment, with director Oliver Sellers-Garcia, and the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development with Russell Koty.
As a Coach, I am a volunteer organizer and am not authorized to speak as a spokesperson on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or MassCEC. My job is to help people to understand the program once it's in place, and to answer questions that my neighbors may have as they consider the options. Things outside of my wheelhouse will be directed to the folks who can answer them.
You can contact me here with questions, or soon we'll have some information resources with more details. If you might want to volunteer to be on the outreach team. let me know.
Mary Mangan
Solar Coach Volunteer
[vendors should not contact me, I'm not supposed to have contact with them prior to the proposal process]
-----------------------
Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!
Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
---------------------
Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
---------------------
Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
-----------------------
HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
*********
-----------
Resource
-----------
*********
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@sbnboston.org
--------------------------------------------------
Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
---------------------------------------
Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
----------------------
The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development
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.
---------------------
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei@wellesley.edu
------------------------
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
****************************************
-----------------------------------------------------
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://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://events.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://mitenergyclub.org/calendar
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Mass Climate Action: http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
No comments:
Post a Comment