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
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Index
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Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.
Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.
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Monday, February 8
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12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
12pm Webinar: The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations
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Monday, February 8
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12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
12pm Webinar: The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations
12pm Who struggled to produce your food? Campesinas' Reflections
12pm Default Effects, Follow-on Behavior, and Welfare in Residential Electricity Pricing Programs
12:15pm Playlist from the Terrestial Analog: Towards an Ecology of Outer Space
12:15pm Playlist from the Terrestial Analog: Towards an Ecology of Outer Space
1pm Evolution of the Inner-City Ghetto
4pm The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened
4pm The Devil is Here in These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
6pm Prather Lecture: The Public Choices You Make: From Engagement to Advocacy
6pm Writers Speak: Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Claire Messud
6pm Boston New Technology February 2016 Product Showcase #BNT62
6pm DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
4pm The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened
4pm The Devil is Here in These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
6pm Prather Lecture: The Public Choices You Make: From Engagement to Advocacy
6pm Writers Speak: Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Claire Messud
6pm Boston New Technology February 2016 Product Showcase #BNT62
6pm DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
6pm A Mobile Monday Event: Mobile Phones in Ebola Response - What Did We Learn?
6pm Architecture Lecture: Jan Haeraets, Terrace Gardens in Mughal Kashmir
7pm Using Intelligent Algorithms to Design Intelligent Algorithms
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Tuesday, February 9
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12pm Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe
12:30pm New Entrepreneurship in the Post-3.11 Tohoku Region
2:30pm The Present & Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor
4pm Controversy! A Reporter's Perspective on Global Climate and Energy Debates: with Coral Davenport
6pm Architecture Lecture: Jan Haeraets, Terrace Gardens in Mughal Kashmir
7pm Using Intelligent Algorithms to Design Intelligent Algorithms
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Tuesday, February 9
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12pm Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe
12:30pm New Entrepreneurship in the Post-3.11 Tohoku Region
2:30pm The Present & Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor
4pm Controversy! A Reporter's Perspective on Global Climate and Energy Debates: with Coral Davenport
4:30pm Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Nancy Kanwisher
4:30pm Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee
4:45pm Making Good Energy Choices: The Role of Energy Systems Analysis
5pm Forensic DNA Testing: Why Are There Still Bumps in the Road?
4:30pm Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee
4:45pm Making Good Energy Choices: The Role of Energy Systems Analysis
5pm Forensic DNA Testing: Why Are There Still Bumps in the Road?
5:30pm Askwith Forum – Teaching Higher: Educators’ Perspectives on Common Core Implementation
6pm Tales from the Field
6pm BSA Committee on Resilient Environments
6:30pm Re-Centering Human-Centered Visualization
7:15pm Jonathan Elkhoury: Human Rights Activist in the Middle East
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Wednesday, February 10
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12pm Living Politics
Wednesday, February 10
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12pm Living Politics
12pm Nato 2.0: Reboot or Delete
12:30pm Book Talk: Renminbi Rising
12:30pm Islamophobia in America: Empirical Evidence and Beyond
4:10pm Will Renewables Renew Democracy?
5:30pm Public Space Innovation
6pm Mass Innovation Nights Foodie 10
6:30pm Our Robots, Ourselves
7pm Eyes on the Prize: Then & Now
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Thursday, February 11
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8am After Paris: Getting from Negotiation to Implementation
Thursday, February 11
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8am After Paris: Getting from Negotiation to Implementation
8:45am TEDxPlaceDesNations: "Transforming Lives"
12pm X Marks the Spot - Science in the Central Pacific
4pm 44th James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture: Unlocking the Secrets of Cancer
4pm The Age of Sustainable Development
4pm Lecture and Reception with MacArthur Fellow Alex Truesdell
4:15pm Eyes Wide Open: Mobilizing Citizens Against Cultural Crimes
4:30pm Starr Forum: Paris Climate Talks: Now What?
5pm Europe in Crisis: Is There a Way Out?: A Conversation with Loukas Tsoukalis
5pm Lisa Parks: "Drone Matters: Vertical Mediation in the Horn of Africa"
5:30pm Innovation in Transportation Series
5:30pm Bread & Puppet Theater: Peter Schumann's Fiddle Sermon
6pm A Goldman Sachs Perspective on Africa's Opportunities and Challenges
6pm Future of the Library
6pm Where Security Meets Privacy, Gov't Surveillance, and Web Scraping!
6pm Envision Cambridge "What's the Plan?" Panel
6:30pm Man of Steel | Albert Paley
6:30pm Humanitarian Happy Hour
7:30pm Boston Area Solar Energy Association Forum: 'Loma Larga Granja Solar' A New Twist in Solar Development
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Friday, February 12
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8:30am Moving the Future Conference @ HBS
Friday, February 12
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8:30am Moving the Future Conference @ HBS
12:30pm Predicting Public Transit Delays: Designing a Data-Driven App for Caltrain"
3pm Towards the Humanoid Robots of Science Fiction
3pm Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World
5pm Building Community in 140 Characters or Less @ MIT Museum
5:30pm International Development Hackathon 2016
7pm Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran
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Saturday, February 13
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3pm Bread & Puppet Theater: The Overtakelessness Circus
Saturday, February 13
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3pm Bread & Puppet Theater: The Overtakelessness Circus
7:30pm Pena: African Heritage and its Influence in the Diasporas
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Tuesday, February 16
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12pm Sam Feist, CNN
Tuesday, February 16
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12pm Sam Feist, CNN
12pm Climate change and viticulture. Impacts and adaptations
12pm Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web
12:30pm Energy Transitions in Germany and Japan Five Years after Fukushima
4:30pm Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Sallie (Penny) Chishom
7pm Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
Modern Radical Conservatism
City Agriculture
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Monday, February 8
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
Monday, February 8
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Keith Seitter (AMS)
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar [MASS] is an EAPS 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
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Webinar: The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations
Monday, February 8
12:00p–1:00p
Speaker: David Hartzband, DSc, Research Affiliate, MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
Big data holds great promise for understanding the successes and failures of systems in a wide range of industries. This webinar will explore the use of big data in the healthcare system, with specific reference to a multiyear project that deployed Hadoop-based analytics at 33 Federally Qualified Community Health Centers with approximately 1.3 million patients.
The project analyzed five years of data to assess data quality and its impact on care and found that:
reporting of specific conditions was often lower than expected given known estimates for the US population;
the rates of obesity and heart disease as reported appeared especially low; and
these apparent data errors made identifying comorbidities problematic.
The speaker will explore possible system causes for these results, including:
a structural misalignment of electronic health records with actual health center practices;
impediments to proper reporting caused by sociocultural and organizational contexts; and
poor-quality data.
A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us!
The MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series, sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program, features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges. Recordings and slides from prior SDM webinars can be accessed at sdm.mit.edu/news-and-events/webinars/.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to all
Tickets: See url above
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design & Management
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
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Who struggled to produce your food? Campesinas' Reflections
Monday, February 8
12:00PM -1:00PM
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, WCC B015, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Campesinas’ Reflections is a talk by female farmworkers and members of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. The campesinas scheduled to speak are Dolores Bustamante, Hormis Bedolla, and Beatriz Gatica.
They will speak about:
The people who labor to produce our food are essential to our daily lives yet rarely even considered;
The physical dangers of pesticide exposure and sexual harassment, the systemic disadvantages imposed by wage, healthcare, and immigration laws and more; and
The presence and contributions of female farmworkers–particularly women of color whose first language is not English.
This even is co-hosted by The Harvard Food Law Society, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, La Alianza, WLA Venture Fund, and the American Constitution Society at Harvard Law School. Lunch will be provided.
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Default Effects, Follow-on Behavior, and Welfare in Residential Electricity Pricing Programs
Monday, February 8
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Catherine Wolfram, Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Administration, University of California Berkeley
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
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Playlist from the Terrestial Analog: Towards an Ecology of Outer Space
Monday, February 8
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.
Larissa Belcic, Harvard, GSD
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
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Evolution of the Inner-City Ghetto
WHEN Mon., Feb. 8, 2016, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, 124 Gund, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Critical Conservation (MDes), Graduate School of Design
SPEAKER(S) Theodore Hershberg
DETAILS Theodore Hershberg Professor of Public Policy and History and Director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania He served as Assistant to the Mayor (Philadelphia) for Strategic Planning and Policy Development (1984-85) and Acting Dean of Penn’s School of Public and Urban Policy. Hershberg has had three major research interests: Education Reform, Regional Cooperation and Urban-Industrial Transformation. From 1969 to 1981, Hershberg founded and directed the Philadelphia Social History Project, a cross-disciplinary research effort aimed at understanding the black experience in an American city and the larger impacts of industrialization on urban space. His scholarly writings analyzed Philadelphia’s industrial development and the experience of its diverse immigrant groups.
This talk is offered by the Critical Conservation program (MDes) at the Graduate School of Design. It is part of a series of conversations with noted scholars to support the inquiry of group research projects for 04479: Power & Place: Culture and Conflict in the Built Environment that examines cities where the history of cultural conflict and the spatial patterns of exclusion aimed at suppressing racial, ethnic, economic and religious differences have left an indelible imprint on the material character of the city. The Critical Conservation Colloquia‘s goal is to foster an understanding of urban ethics and an awareness of the political uses of history and identity.
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The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened
Monday, February 8
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Boston University, Metcalf Trustee Center, One Silber Way, Boston
The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened, will feature Amb. Laurence Tubiana, Frances special representative for the December 2015 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Paris (COP21). This event will take place from 4 to 5:30 pm on Feb. 8 at One Silber Way, 9th floor. It is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
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The Devil is Here in These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
WHEN Mon., Feb. 8, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room 2036 B, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Labor and Worklife Program; Harvard Trade Union Program
SPEAKER(S) James Green, author and professor of history emeritus, University of Massachusetts Boston;
Karl Klare, professor, Northeastern Law School;
Linda Kaboolian, senior research fellow, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
COST free and open to the public
DETAILS James Green discusses his new book on the deadly labor struggles in West Virginia, work that is also featured on the PBS series "The American Experience." He will be joined by panelists Karl Klare and Linda Kaboolian.
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Prather Lecture: From Doom and Gloom to Hope: Innovations in Ocean Science and Policy
Monday, February 8
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
OEB Prather Lecture
Gazette Classification: Lecture, Science
Organization/Sponsor: Co-sponsored by Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History
Speaker(s): The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University, Dept. of State's First U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean
Contact organization: Co-sponsored by Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History
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Writers Speak: Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Claire Messud
WHEN Mon., Feb. 8, 2016, 6 p.m.
WHERE Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Poetry/Prose, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Colm Tóibín, author of "The Master" (2004), "Brooklyn" (2009), and "Nora Webster" (2014)
Claire Messud, novelist and senior lecturer in English, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO humcentr@fas.harvard.edu
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Boston New Technology February 2016 Product Showcase #BNT62
Monday, February 8
6:00 PM
IBM Innovation Center, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
Take the elevator to the second floor and look for our check-in table. Type your first or last name on our screen to print your name tag.
Free event! Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community!
Each presenter gets 5 minutes for product demonstration and 5 minutes for Questions & Answers.
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DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
Monday, February 8
6:00-7:30pm
Water Purification Facility, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge
In light of recent water-related news headlines, this documentary may be of particular interest. This award-winning film explores the possibility of future water shortages actually inciting war. Learn about the intricate and expansive political and economic struggles surrounding water use. This film also provides interesting and informative commentary on the privatization of water for profit in case studies from around the world, and makes a strong case for water activism and community action.
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A Mobile Monday Event: Mobile Phones in Ebola Response - What Did We Learn?
Monday, February 8
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (EST)
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive - 1st Mann #1, Cambridge
In the recent West Africa Ebola outbreak, cell phones were heavily used for mass communication, disease tracking, and response coordination.
As part of Mobile Monday Boston, tech experts from Boston-based global health organizations Dimagi and Partners in Health will share their experiences developing and deploying mobile tech for Ebola response. Panelists will touch upon several topics, including:
The health / technology facts and figures behind the Ebola outbreak
Sharing stories of how organizations used cell phones on the frontline
The unique challenges of rapidly designing mobile apps for remote areas
Discussing how we can better prepare for possible disease outbreaks with mobile technology
A Q&A session will follow the presentation. Refreshments (water, soda) and light snacks will be provided. Please email questions to gjavetski@dimagi.com.
About the Panelists: Dimagi CEO Jonathan Jackson lead Dimagi's efforts in developing mobile applications for 12 organizations working in Ebola response, used by a total of 1,100 people. Partners in Health GIS and mHealth specialist Ermyas Birru has worked in Kono, Sierra Leone to help assess, design and implement mobile technology for Ebola response and health system strengthening. The panel will be moderated by Jonathan Payne who is a Senior Technical Advisor on eHealth initiatives with the United Nations Foundation.
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Architecture Lecture: Jan Haeraets, Terrace Gardens in Mughal Kashmir
Monday, February 8
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
MIT Architecture Lecture Series
Part of the Spring 2016 Architecture and Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture Lecture Series.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Department of Architecture
For more information, contact: Jose Luis Arguello
(617) 253-1400
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Using Intelligent Algorithms to Design Intelligent Algorithms
Monday, February 8
7pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Davis Square, Somerville
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Tuesday, February 9
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Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe: Spotlight on Investigative Reporting: How Hollywood Came to Celebrate What Newsrooms Believe is No Longer Worth the Cost
Tuesday, February 9
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Walter V. “Robby” Robinson is editor at large for The Boston Globe. Robinson led the Spotlight Team’s investigation that uncovered the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. The story of the investigation was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film Spotlight, in which Robinson is played by Michael Keaton. Robinson has been city editor, metro editor, White House correspondent and foreign correspondent. He has reported for the Globe from 48 states and more than 30 countries.
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New Entrepreneurship in the Post-3.11 Tohoku Region
WHEN Tue., Feb. 9, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Hirotaka Takeuchi, professor of management practice, Harvard Business School
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
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The Present & Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor
Tuesday, February 9
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, W16, Cambridge
Please join us in welcoming Mark Rosekind, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for a discussion with Bryan Reimer, Associate Director, New England University Regional Transportation Center and Research Scientist, MIT AgeLab, on The Present and Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor. This event isfreeand open to the public.
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Controversy! A Reporter's Perspective on Global Climate and Energy Debates: with Coral Davenport
Tuesday, February 9
4:15-5:45pm
Harvard, Littauer 230, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
A seminar and discussion with Coral Davenport, Energy & Environment Correspondent, The New York Times. One of the most respected and prolific reporters on this beat, Davenport covers Obama’s climate initiatives, the Paris COP21 Climate Accord, ADD—in other words, all things energy, environment & climate. She has recently traveled to Greenland and the Marshall Islands to see the impact of climate change firsthand.
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Knight Science Journalism Seminar with Nancy Kanwisher
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
4:30 pm
MIT, Building E19-623, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Nancy Kanwisher uses brain imaging and behavioral testing to study how different areas of the brain contribute to our perception of the visual world. Her lab has identified several regions of the brain that play specialized roles in the perception of specific categories of visual stimuli such as faces, places, and bodies. She is the Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a founding member of the McGovern Institute. She joined the MIT faculty in 1997, and prior to that served on the faculty at UCLA and Harvard University. In 1999, she received the National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.
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Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee
Tuesday, February 09
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Gerald Neuman, Co-Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School
A session of the Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
More info: 253-3848
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Making Good Energy Choices: The Role of Energy Systems Analysis
Tuesday, February 9
4:45p–5:45p
MIT, Building 4-270, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Sally M. Benson, Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy and Director, Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford University
Driven by concerns about global warming, air pollution, and energy security, the world is beginning a century-long transition to a decarbonized energy system. Building blocks for decarbonization include dramatic efficiency improvements, renewable energy, electrification, nuclear power, natural gas as a substitute for coal, and carbon capture and storage. Given the long-term nature of the energy transition, the question becomes, how do we make good energy choices? Energy systems analysis can augment economic analysis and provide additional perspectives for answering questions such as:
Is storing renewable energy in batteries a good idea and which batteries are best?
How fast can the PV industry grow before it consumes more energy than it produces?
What's better, a battery electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle?
For new technologies, what aspects need to improve the most: efficiency, lifetime, materials, or cost?
This talk will provide examples of the important role energy systems analysis plays in revealing good energy choices.
Reception to follow.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
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Forensic DNA Testing: Why Are There Still Bumps in the Road?
Tuesday, February 9
5 p.m.
Harvard, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
The use of DNA for the analysis of biological evidence has had a positive and permanent effect on all forensic testing. However, hurdles remain as the intersection between science and law has not significantly improved and continues to challenge forensic science practitioners and lawyers representing both sides of criminal cases. This talk with review current scientific and laboratory challenges and discuss the issues encountered when forensic scientists, lawyers, and judges all try to “do the right thing” together.
Gazette Classification: Law, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
Organization/Sponsor: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Speaker(s): Robin W. Cotton, associate professor and director, Biomedical Forensic Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine
Cost: Free and open to the public
Contact organization: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Contact email: events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
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Askwith Forum – Teaching Higher: Educators’ Perspectives on Common Core Implementation
WHEN Tue., Feb. 9, 2016, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard,, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Discussion, Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT Alumni, AskWith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME Roger Falcon
CONTACT EMAIL askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE 617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
DETAILS
Speaker: Thomas J. Kane, Walter H. Gale Professor of Education, HGSE
Moderator: Martin West, Associate Professor of Education, HGSE
Panelists:
Timothy Allen, Principal, Birchland Park Middle School, East Longmeadow, MA
Gwendolin Bandi, Fourth-Grade Math Teacher, Doran Elementary School, Fall River, MA
Mitchell Chester, Ed.M.’88, Ed.D.’91, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Henry R. Johnson, Jr., Interim Deputy State Superintendent for Teaching and Learning and Chief Academic Officer, Maryland State Department of Education
Lindsay Sobel, Massachusetts Senior Executive Director, Teach Plus
With the debate over the federal role in education at rest with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), it is time to refocus attention on how to help the states move forward. We need to refocus attention to help teachers and students succeed using the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In this Askwith Forum, Kane will share findings about CCSS implementation strategies from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. This will be followed by a panel of educators, who will share their experiences, pain points, and successes with the CCSS over this past year.
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Tales from the Field
Tuesday, February 9
6pm
MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
RSVP for dinner at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iJ2zSGp56VC8G7hC1uFPzJPwx0vgKTH6BqZGK1glIGM/viewform
For the past couple of years, the first e4Dev meeting of the spring semester is called "Tales from the Field", where students/researchers who have been traveling abroad over IAP can share their experiences. We have folks from the Tata Center and D-Lab who will share some anecdotes
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BSA Committee on Resilient Environments
Tuesday, February 9
6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Suite 200, Boston
The topic is Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment - City of Cambridge. In November 2015, the City of Cambridge released Part 1 of its Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. This marked the first step in making Cambridge a more prepared and resilient municipality. John Bolduc, of the Cambridge Community Development Department and Nathalie Beauvais of Kleinfelder, the lead consultant, will give an abbreviated presentation of the assessment, as well as outline the next steps forward for the city. For those who qualify, 1.5 LUs/HSW are available. To learn more about the Committee on Resilient Environments, visit http://architects.org/committees/committee-resilient-environments-core.
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Re-Centering Human-Centered Visualization
Tuesday, February 9
6:30pm – 9:00pm
IBM Research Cambridge, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
Lane Harrison, WPI
Data visualization is making strides in delivering new tools, techniques, and systems to people engaged in data analysis and communication. Providing more options can lead to a paradox of choice, however — how can people creating data visualizations understand the tradeoffs between available designs? One promising approach towards addressing this problem is to better understand and quantify the role of the human in data visualization. In this talk I’ll share some of our recent results ranging from quantifying low-level perceptual processes in visualization, to modeling higher level concepts like engagement and aesthetics. Re-centering visualization on the human not only aids people in designing data visualizations, but also leads to new opportunities for next-generation visualization tools, techniques, and systems.
Bio
Lane Harrison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on developing quantitative models of perceptual and cognitive processes in visualization and using them to improve visualization design and behavior.
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Jonathan Elkhoury: Human Rights Activist in the Middle East
Tuesday, February 9
7:15p–8:30p
MIT, Building 2-105, 2 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Jonathan Elkhoury
Jonathan Elkhoury is a Christian Muslim originally from Lebanon and now resides in Israel. He will be talking about issues affecting women, minorities and the LGBT-Q communities in the Middle East as well as sharing his personal or struggle and perseverance.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Friends of Israel, Netivot
For more information, contact: Suri Bandler
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Wednesday, February 10
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Living Politics
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 12 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Kerry Chance, lecturer on social studies, Harvard University
COST Free & open to the public
CONTACT INFO hutchevents@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS A Q+A will follow the lecture.
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Nato 2.0: Reboot or Delete
Wednesday, February 10
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sarwar Kushmeri (US Foreign Policy)
SSP Wednesday Seminar Series
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617- 253-7529
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Book Talk: Renminbi Rising
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 12:30 – 1:50 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, S020, Belfer Case Study Room, Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Critical Issues Confronting China Seminar Series, sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
SPEAKER(S) William Overholt, Harvard University Asia Center
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Islamophobia in America: Empirical Evidence and Beyond
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CMES, Room 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Religion, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The CMES Middle East Forum
SPEAKER(S) Karam Dana, assistant professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington; director, American Muslim Research Institute
COST Free and open to the public
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.
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Will Renewables Renew Democracy?
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation (foyer), 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Moderator Muriel Rouyer, professor of political science at the University of Nantes (France) and adjunct professor of public policy at HKS
Panelists include Karine Dognin-Sauze, vice-president of Greater Lyon, and Jeremy McDiarmid, senior director for innovation and industry support at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (“MassCEC”)
COST N/A
CONTACT INFO Maisie O'Brien
DETAILS
The Ash Center cordially invites you to join a discussion on the democratic opportunities in renewable energies from a transnational perspective.
Background: Climate change is an urgent matter, yet the conversation seems to be contained in international negotiations or in the highly technical energy sector, both inaccessible to most people. Renewable energies are at the epicenter of a green revolution heralded by innovative local governments in conjunction with parts of the corporate and technology sectors. Renewable energies not only represent an immense opportunity for both the Global North and South to cut emissions, but they also have the potential to mobilize a wide range of actors interested in clean energy: every-day citizens who want to pay less and consume wisely; businesses that anticipate the benefits of investing in expanding renewable energy markets; and cities dedicated to “smart government” initiatives creating innovative green solutions to carbon producing economic activities. This panel aims to bring the renewable energy conversation to the people by addressing a number of important questions: What renewable energy policies and practices already exist? Why have some been successful, while others have failed? Who are the primary actors of change? And what opportunities exist for citizens to participate in climate action?
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Public Space Innovation
Wednesday, February 10
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
For a millennia, public spaces have been key to civic life, as places where society comes together to debate, learn, heal and celebrate collectively.
Last year’s inaugural Public Space Invitational (PSI) in Boston made us all think about how public space can be used in ways befitting the 21st Century, by leveraging new models of engagement, lightweight hacks and technology. Examples as diverse as Lightwell (https://twitter.com/newurbanmechs/status/659800724952506368), the City Hall Stairs of Fabulousness and the exciting additions to the Greenway last summer demonstrated that the community has creative ideas that can make public space more functional and intuitive, as well as generally improve civic engagement.
Join us to discuss the role of public space in civic innovation, hear about this year’s Public Space Invitational, and dig into specifics of last year’s results from some of the inaugural PSI winners.
Speakers:
Michelle Laboy of LightWell
Liz LaManche of Stairs of Fabulousness
Schedule:
5:30 – 6 PM – Registration and networking
6:00 – 7:00 – Short presentations by 2015 PSI winners
7:00 - 7:30 – Q&A
7:30 – 8:30 – Post event networking
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Mass Innovation Nights Foodie 10
Wednesday, February 10
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Hatch Fenway, 401 Park Drive, Boston
Website: http://bit.ly/Foodie10
It’s that time of year again — time for another Mass Innovation Nights Foodie event! We’ll be featuring 11 amazing food themed startups, many of which will have their tasty treats ready for you to sample! Come out and support a night of local innovation and flavor. Head over to our website to RSVP and vote for you favorite startup! http://bit.ly/Foodie10
Mass Innovation Nights
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Our Robots, Ourselves
Wednesday, February 10
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
David A. Mindell, Ph.D., Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; founder and director of MIT's "DeepArch" research group in technology, archaeology, and the deep sea.
Dr. Mindell's comprehensive research reflects his unusually broad academic background in both engineering and the humanities. His technical work includes theories of engineering systems as well as pioneering technical innovations in engineering and deep ocean robotic archaeology. He has combined his many engineering achievements with historical analyses: the history of engineering, the history of automation in the military, the history of electronics and computing, and the history of space exploration.
Dr. Mindell examines our relationship with robots. How truly independent are they presently, and how autonomous can they be in the future? In the robots we use for space exploration, deep-sea research, and many other tasks. The real "brain" seems to be human, not robotic, His recent book, which he discusses, explains both the value of robots and the actual limits of robotic autonomy at a time when there is increasing controversy about the capabilities of robots.
Dr. Mindell has shared his unique perspective in several books for the general public, most recently Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy (2015). His book War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor (2000) won the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology. This was followed by Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics in 2002. His third book, Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in the First Six Lunar Landings (2008) was awarded the Emme award for astronautical literature by the American Astronautical Society.
Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
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Eyes on the Prize: Then & Now
Wednesday, February 10
7-9pm
WGBH Studios, One Guest Street, Brighton
The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required
WGBH and WORLD Channel invite you to our studios for a look back at Eyes on the Prize, featuring clips from both the landmark civil rights series and Eyes on the Prize: Then and Now, a new special examining Eyes’ impact today, along with a panel discussion.
Almost three decades after WGBH first presented Henry Hampton’s Eyes on the Prize to the nation, WORLD began rebroadcasting the 14-part documentary in January, and the series continues every Sunday at 8pm. Join us for a conversation about what the series, produced by Blackside, Inc., means to a new generation of viewers.
Moderated by WGBH News Senior Reporter Phillip Martin, the panel discussion will include Judy Richardson, Eyes on the Prize Associate Producer and Education Director, and Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at MIT.
A reception with light refreshments and tours of our studios will follow the presentation.
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Thursday, February 11
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After Paris: Getting from Negotiation to Implementation
WHEN Thu., Feb. 11, 2016, 8 – 9:45 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Kennedy School, Malkin Penthouse, 4th floor Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Future of Diplomacy Project & the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
SPEAKER(S) Paula Dobriansky, senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project and former under secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO alison_hillegeist@hks.harvard.edu
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TEDxPlaceDesNations: "Transforming Lives"
Thursday, February 11
8:45 AM to 2:00 PM (EST)
swissnex Boston, Consulate of Switzerland, 420 Broadway Cambridge
February 11, in Geneva, TEDxPlaceDesNations will bring together 11 diverse and distinguished speakers from around the world, all with powerful and inspiring stories to tell. They are innovators, public health and energy specialists, human rights defenders and humanitarians, all of whom have made a real difference in people’s lives around the world. The speakers are: Ranyee Chiang, Cookstove Technologist; Ger Duany, Refugee Ally; Scott Foster, Energy Activator; Thabitha Khumalo, Democracy Advocate; Beeban Kidron, iRights Campaigner; Dennis Liotta, Drug Discoverer; Şafak Pavey, Inclusion Champion; Didier Pittet, Hand-washing Provocateur; Coline Rapneau, Sexual Violence Adversary; Leonardo Sakamoto, 21st Century Abolitionist; and Rohini Swaminathan, Satellite Humanitarian.
Please note: this is a moderated live-streaming. The actual event is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.
Join us at swissnex Boston for a moderated live-streaming of the TEDxPlaceDesNations. Ambassador Martin Dahinden will be giving remarks on the significance and the limitations of the United Nations Organization.
Agenda
Moderator TBA
8:15 – 8:45am: Doors opening, coffee
8:45 – 9:00am: Words of welcome
9:00 – 10:30am : 1st session of live streamed testimonials
10:30 – 11:15am: Break – Remarks by Martin Dahinden, Ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S.
11:15am – 1:00pm: 2nd session of live streamed testimonials
1:00 – 1:15pm: Closing remarks
1:15 – 2:00pm: Networking reception
About Martin Dahinden
Martin Dahinden was appointed by the Swiss Government as the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States to take office in 2014. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 2008 to 2014 and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2004 to 2008.
During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Martin Dahinden has served as Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), at the Embassy of Switzerland in Paris, as Deputy to the Swiss Ambassador in Nigeria, and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA’s Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as Head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe) Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs , and held the position of Deputy Head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as Deputy Head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels.
Martin Dahinden was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university, and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house. Ambassador Dahinden is married to Anita Dahinden and they have two children, Robert and Andrea.
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X Marks the Spot - Science in the Central Pacific
Thursday, February 11
12pm
Tufts, Rabb room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Most talks will be streamed lived at Bit.ly/TuftsLunchLearn
Randi Rotjan
The 2015-16 El Nino is strongest in the Central Pacific, near where the equator meets the international dateline. The closest coral reefs to this region are the Phoenix Islands, which together are owned by Kiribati and comprise the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, which is the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site on the planet. Expeditions to this remote region are providing insight into the impact and resilience of El Nino, with implications for regions that face the double jeapordy of both climate change and local human impact. Natural laboratories like the Phoenix Islands are critical benchmarks to decouple the impacts of global, versus local, influences.
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44th James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture: Unlocking the Secrets of Cancer
Thursday, February 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, Huntington Hall, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Tyler Jacks, Director of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the David H. Koch Professor of Biology
Tyler Jacks, a pioneering cancer biologist and director of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is this year's recipient of MIT's James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. Jacks is recognized for his leadership of MIT's cancer research community, and his influence on the field of cancer research.
The James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award was established in 1971 to recognize extraordinary professional accomplishments by full-time members of the MIT faculty. It is the greatest honor the faculty can bestow upon one of its members. A faculty committee chooses the recipient from among candidates nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to their fields, to MIT, and to society.
Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Sponsor(s): Information Center, Provost's Office, Killian Award Committee
For more information, contact: Joe Coen
617-253-4795
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The Age of Sustainable Development
WHEN Thu., Feb. 11, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Labor and Worklife Program; Harvard Law School; Harvard Trade Union Program
SPEAKER(S) Jeffrey Sachs, director, Earth Institute, Columbia University
COST free and open to the public
DETAILS Economist Jeffrey Sachs presents his new book on the path forward for achieving sustainable development
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Lecture and Reception with MacArthur Fellow Alex Truesdell
Thursday, February 11
4:00pm
4 to 5:30 p.m. - Lecture and Q&A in the University Hall Amphitheater, 29 Everett Street, Cambridge
5:30 to 6 p.m. - Reception in the University Hall Atrium
The university community and the general public are invited to a conversation with Lesley alumna Alex Truesdell, winner of the prestigious 2015 MacArthur Fellowship, known as the MacArthur “genius” grant.
As founding director of the Adaptive Design Association, Alex has helped thousands of teachers, therapists and parents create child-specific alterations to furniture, equipment and spaces that make them more useable. She has continuously challenged assumptions about disabilities, and worked to eliminate limitations with inventive user-inspired adaptation.
Alex’s remarkable story reflects her Lesley education. She earned her bachelor’s degree in special education 1979, and returned to Lesley and earned a master’s degree in 1998 in curriculum and instruction with a specialization and conflict resolution and peaceable schools.
“I’ve always thought beyond inclusion: children with disabilities must be fully engaged and expected to be as great a contributor as any other person,” she says. “That climate was already there at Lesley.”
Join us to hear the inspiring story of her commitment, struggles, values, integration of theory and practice, and how the MacArthur “genius” award has changed her life.
Phone Number: 617-349-8515
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Eyes Wide Open: Mobilizing Citizens Against Cultural Crimes
WHEN Thu., Feb. 11, 2016, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Hoffmann Room, Busch Hall, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Eastern Mediterranean and Europe Study Group
SPEAKER(S) Tasoula Hadjitofi, Founder and Director, Walk of Truth (WoT)
COST free
CONTACT INFO Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Elizabeth.Prodromou@tufts.edu; Payam Mosheni, payam_mohseni@hks.harvard.edu
LINK ces.fas.harvard.edu/#/events/3622
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Starr Forum: Paris Climate Talks: Now What?
Thursday, February 11
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building 4-270, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
A panel discussion on the recent Paris Climate Talks.
Speakers: Henry Jacoby, Noelle Selin, John Sterman, Ken Oye (moderator)
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): The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617- 253-8306
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Europe in Crisis: Is There a Way Out?: A Conversation with Loukas Tsoukalis
Thursday, February 11
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Boston University, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road (1st floor), Boston
Speaker(s): Loukas Tsoukalis, Vivien Schmidt
Join us for the launch of EU Futures, a series of conversations on the emerging future in Europe. Vivien Schmidt interviews Loukas Tsoukalis, Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at Harvard's Kennedy School. Tsoukalis has taught in some of the leading universities in Europe, such as Oxford, London School of Economics, Sciences Po in Paris and the European University Institute in Florence. He is presently Professor of European Integration at the University of Athens, President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Greece's leading think tank, and Visiting Professor at Kings College in London and the College of Europe in Bruges.
Loukas Tsoukalis is author of The New European Economy, and What Kind of Europe? published by Oxford University Press (OUP) and translated into several languages; joint editor and author of the concluding chapter of The Delphic Oracle on Europe: Is there a Future for the European Union? (OUP, 2011); and author of the Annual Review Lecture (2011) of the Journal of Common Market Studies. He is also a regular contributor to the Sunday edition of the newspaper Kathimerini.
Contact organization: Center for the Study of Europe
Phone : 617-358-0919
Contact name: Elizabeth Amrien
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Lisa Parks: "Drone Matters: Vertical Mediation in the Horn of Africa"
Thursday, February 11
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Since 2002, the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and CIA have orchestrated a covert drone war from Camp Lemonier in the African country of Djibouti, monitoring and striking alleged al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab suspects in Yemen and Somalia. As a media scholar, UC Santa Barbara's Lisa Parks is interested both in the discourses that have been used to expose covert US drone interventions and in the ways that drone operations themselves function as technologies of mediation. Drawing upon media such as training manual diagrams, infrared images, Google Earth interfaces, and drone crash scene photos, this talk explores the drone's mediating work through three registers: the infrastructural, the perceptual, and the forensic. Focusing on maneuvers between the ground and sky, Parks suggest that military drone operations are irreducible to the screen's display and should be understood as practices of vertical mediation--as practices of communication and materialization that occur dynamically through the vertical field, and, as such, have particular kinds of affects. The talk based on a chapter of her forthcoming book, Coverage: Vertical Mediation and the War on Terror.
Lisa Parks is Professor in the Film and Media Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara. She is the author of Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual (Duke UP, 2005) and Coverage: Vertical Mediation and the War on Terror (Routledge, forthcoming).
-in-the-horn-of-africa/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
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Innovation in Transportation Series
Thursday, February 11
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Venture Cafe – Cambridge Innovation Center, 1 Broadway, 5th floor, Cambridge
What new things can be done to get us moving in Kendall Square?
We need your brain power and innovations to solve Kendall’s transportation challenges. How can we use technology to tell us about Red Line train arrivals, capacity on the cars? How can we communicate about other options when Red Line is down? What are the top ten apps for transit through Kendall? How do we use commuter rail corridors more efficiently? Please join us, we need you!
Hosted by Venture Café Foundation and Kendall Square Association in partnership with MassDOT.
Let us know you’re interested in attending here.
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Bread & Puppet Theater: Peter Schumann's Fiddle Sermon
Thursday, February 11
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
MassArt / Pozen Center, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 14 Tetlow Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-puppet-theater-peter-schumanns-fiddle-sermon-tickets-20846208571
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-basedBread & 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 a Fiddle Sermon by Peter Schumann,founder and artistic director of the Bread & Puppet Theater. Peter has performed fiddle sermons for over 20 years as part of the theater's summertime performance series at their farm in northern Vermont. The sermons, which always merge philosophy and news, are delivered while Schumann vigorously accompanies himself on fiddle. His performance at MassArt will be followed by a Q&A with B&P puppeteers and reception, which will include the opportunity to savor Schumanns home-made sourdough rye bread, spread with garlic-laden aioli, the serving of which has been a practice of his since 1963.
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.
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A Goldman Sachs Perspective on Africa's Opportunities and Challenges
WHEN Thu., Feb. 11, 2016, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Business School, Hawes 102, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Africa Business Club, Harvard Business School
SPEAKER(S) Mr Colin Coleman, managing director and head, Investment Banking Division - Sub-Saharan Africa, Goldman Sachs & Co.
DETAILS Light refreshments will be provided.
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Future of the Library
Thursday, February 11
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: David Adjaye
For the first of three visits to MIT, 2016 McDermott Award recipient David Adjaye will focus on his work with libraries. Adjaye will be joined by librarian Ginnie Cooper, Professor Jeffrey Schnapp and architects Nader Tehrani and Ana Miljacki to discuss the changing role of libraries as spaces for collections, research, technology and public engagement.
Free and open to the public but reservations strongly recommended.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Arts at MIT
For more information, contact: Leah Talatinian
617.252.1888
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Where Security Meets Privacy, Gov't Surveillance, and Web Scraping!
Thursday, February 11
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Google, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Cost: $1.00 /per person
Enter the glass doors, turn left, smile and wave, head up to Floor 5.
1. Where Digital Security and Privacy Rights Intersect (6:45-7:05)
by Max Bauer
The framers designed a Constitution which prioritized freedom from "unreasonable" searches and from self-incrimination. These are bedrock principles and fundamental rights in a free society. But what makes a search "unreasonable" when it comes to digital metadata, GPS location tracking, and iPhones? And how do courts conceptualize encryption, which seems to be somewhere between incriminating testimony and a traditional lock? Clearly our founding fathers did not foresee the privacy concerns we have with twenty-first century technology. This talk will discuss how courts have determined (and struggled with) how to apply modern and quickly evolving technology to a legal framework established centuries earlier. From the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on thermal imaging, GPS, and cell phone searches, to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decisions on CSLI and decryption, this talk explains the current state of the law and lays a foundation for where it is headed.
About Max. An associate attorney with White & Associates, P.C., Max Bauer addresses a wide range of substantive and procedural issues in the realm of criminal defense and privacy rights law. He recently presented for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on the intersection between constitutional rights and modern technology at the program "When Cell Phones Become Evidence." Although he has a limited technical security background, he has hosted a cryptoparty on Tor, SSL, and PGP.
2. Digitization, Privacy and Government Surveillance (7:10-7:30)
By Alex Marthews
Moving from an analog to a digital economy has created staggering opportunities for mass digital government surveillance, but mass surveillance is bedeviled by extraordinarily high volume, high false positive rates, graft, lack of oversight and, in common with any algorithmic system, contamination from the assumptions used to program the system. This talk will give an overview of US (and some Five Eyes) surveillance programs, the legal and constitutional questions they arouse, their effects on ordinary political activities, and strategies to circumvent and undermine them.
About Alex. Restore The Fourth's National Chair, Alex Marthews is deep in the thick of battles on Capitol Hill to rein in the PATRIOT Act, and on Beacon Hill to increase police accountability. Alex previously ran nonprofits addressing poverty, housing, and girls' education in East Africa, and interned with EFF back when it was much smaller. He moved to Boston from San Jose in 2005, and gives regular talks on surveillance policy and activism. He is also the co-author of a well-known study on the effects of the Snowden revelations on internet search behavior.
Separating the Bots from the Humans (7:35-7:55)
by Ryan Mitchell
Web scrapers are often thought of as purely data collection tools; however, they can be used to probe large collections of websites for vulnerabilities and exploit found weaknesses, and they are often unfazed by traditional “solutions” like robots.txt files, AJAX loading, and even CAPTCHAs. This presentation will provide an overview of what separates the bots from the humans and give examples of how scrapers/bots can be used alongside more traditional tools to both attack and defend websites.
About Ryan. Ryan Mitchell is a software engineer at LinkeDrive in Boston, where she develops their API and data analysis tools. She is a graduate of Olin College of Engineering and is a master's degree student at Harvard University School of Extension Studies. Prior to joining LinkeDrive, she built web scrapers and bots as a software engineer at Abine, Inc. She continues to work as a freelancer building web scrapers for clients, primarily in financial and retail industries, and she volunteers weekly at the Boston Museum of Science in the Engineering Design Workshop.
Ryan is the author of two books: Instant Web Scraping with Java (Packt Publishing, 2013) and Web Scraping with Python (O’Reilly Media, 2015).
Schedule
6:00 - 6:30: Pizza
6:30 - 6:35: Cybersecurity Opener by Dawn
6:35 - 6:40: Lulzy News by Cindy
6:40 - 6:45: Tool of the month by Will
6:45 - 7:05: Where Digital Security and Privacy Rights Intersect by Max Bauer
7:10 - 7:30: Digitization, Privacy and Government Surveillance by Alex Marthews
7:35 - 7:55: Separating the Bots from the Humans by Ryan Mitchell
8:00 - 9:00: Location TBA!
Network with other security enthusiasts!
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Envision Cambridge "What's the Plan?" Panel
Thursday, February 11
6pm – 8pm
Cambridge Public Library, Main Branch Lecture Hall 449 Broadway, Cambridge
The panel includes Tim Love, Utile; Dan D’Oca, Interboro Partners; Ariella Maron, Buro Happold; Lisa Jacobson, Nelson/Nygaard; Kevin Hively, Ninigret Partners.
More information at
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Man of Steel | Albert Paley
Thursday, February 11
6:30p–8:00p
MIT, Building 54-100, the Green Building (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Albert Paley
Master blacksmith and world-renowned artist Albert Paley will present a survey of his visionary artwork, which spans four decades. Constantly aware of steel's properties, Paley is driven to embrace and push the metal beyond its inherent qualities, leading to a successful blurring of boundaries between art and architecture and craft and art. A special focus on the engineering challenges as well as the metallurgical and materials science aspects of his monumental works will also be covered.
DMSE Metal Arts Lecture Series
Web site: http://dmse.mit.edu/news/albert-paley
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Merton C. Flemings Materials Processing Lab
For more information, contact: DMSE
617-253-3300
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Humanitarian Happy Hour
Thursday, February 11
6:30-8:30PM
Mead Hall, 4 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Gather with local humanitarian practitioners, faculty, staff, and students to network and discuss issues relevant to the field.
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Boston Area Solar Energy Association Forum: 'Loma Larga Granja Solar' A New Twist in Solar Development
Thursday, February 11
7:30PM
First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; Presentation begins at 7:30 p.m
In the south of El Salvador, a new idea is sprouting, with roots in the Boston area. Jose Aleman, former General Consul of El Salvador for New England, will present a development project seeking input, investment and connections to the Boston Area solar and academic communities, as well as the support and involvement of our local Salvadoran immigrant community. His team is well positioned to secure a government contract for their 5 megawatt PV project called 'Loma Larga Granja Solar' (english: 'Long Hill Solar Farm').
Their approach is unique, community-based, and quite possibly a new model for distributed energy development. It opens up opportunities for many smaller contributors and contrasts with previous projects in El Salvador, heretofore dominated by large corporate and monied interests.
'Loma Larga' is an innovative work-in-progress and the principals invite our consideration and input. Diverse approaches (Power Purchase Agreements, the Solarize Mass program, community solar via virtual net metering) have been key drivers in the flourishing of solar in Massachusetts from 3MW in 2007 to nearly 1,000 MW today. Here is an opportunity to have a first look at a new idea - the Loma Larga approach - at the February 11th Boston Area Solar Energy Association Forum.
Jose Aleman is the former General Consul of El Salvador for New England and a founder and co-owner of a company interested in producing and selling 5 MW of PV power to El Salvador's government by mid 2017.
Boston Area Solar Energy Association Forum
Contact Name: Mike Higgins
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Friday, February 12
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Moving the Future Conference @ HBS
Friday, February 12
8:30 AM to 6:30 PM (EST)
Harvard Business School, Boston
Cost: $10 - $40
Infrastructure is the lifeblood of the world. Trains, planes, automobiles, roads, bridges, airports, and satellites all make our modern life possible. We believe these industries are underrepresented in public debate—and for the first time at Harvard Business School, the Aviation & Aerospace Club and Transportation, Infrastructure, and Logistics Club is bringing top representatives together from these fields to discuss their future and progress.
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Predicting Public Transit Delays: Designing a Data-Driven App for Caltrain"
Friday, February 12
12:30pm to 2:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Jeff Yau & Harrison Mebane, Silicon Valley Data Science
Lunch 12:30pm; Talk 1pm
IACS Seminar Series
Contact: Natasha Baker
Phone: 617-496-2623
Email: iacs-info@seas.harvard.edu
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Towards the Humanoid Robots of Science Fiction
Friday, February 12
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Boston University, 8 St. Mary's Street, Room 203, Boston
CISE Seminar: Aaron Ames, Georgia Tech
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Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World
Friday, February 12
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics welcome political philosopher and Chair of Philosophy and Law at King's College London LEIF WENAR for a discussion of his book Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World. This is the inaugural event in a new speaker series co-presented with the Safra Center, featuring leading thinkers taking on tough problems that matter to us all.
About Blood Oil
Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West—and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the gas station and the mall.
In this sweeping new book Leif Wenar, goes behind the headlines in search of the hidden global rule that thwarts democracy and development—and that puts shoppers into business with some of today's most dangerous men. Readers discover a rule that once licensed the slave trade and apartheid and genocide, a rule whose abolition has marked some of humanity's greatest triumphs-yet a rule that still enflames tyranny and war and terrorism through today's multi-trillion dollar resource trade.
Blood Oil shows how the West can now lead a peaceful revolution by ending its dependence on authoritarian oil, and by getting shoppers out of business with the men of blood. The book describes practical strategies for upgrading world trade: for choosing new rules that will make us more secure at home, more trusted abroad, and better able to solve pressing global problems like climate change. This book shows citizens, consumers and leaders how we can act together today to create a more united human future.
Praise
"This book is one of those rare manifestos that awaken people to a pressing ethical issue by changing the way they see the world. Whether or not its recommendations are practicable today, Blood Oil is a fantastically stimulating read: analytic, informative, rationally optimistic, and written with erudition and panache." —Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and How the Mind Works
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Building Community in 140 Characters or Less @ MIT Museum
Friday, February 12
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
MIT, Building N51, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Sasha Constanza-Chock, Greg Epstein, Sands Fish, Jenny Li Fowler, Devavrat Shah
Over the past decade, social media has become news anchor, matchmaker, and replaced the water cooler as our gathering area. Increasingly, it is being used to share and connect stories of people who lack access or sufficient influence to traditional media. Join us at the MIT Museum as researchers and community leaders share how local issues can turn into national stories through Retweets, Likes and Shares. And, participate in a conversation about the way digital platforms are being used to introduce diverse voices and build communities.
Featuring:
Sasha Constanza-Chock, Associate Professor, Civic Media, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT
Greg Epstein, Humanist Community Chaplain, Harvard University
Sands Fish, Berman Center Fellow, Data Scientist and Computational Artist, Harvard University/MIT
Jenny Li Fowler, Manager, Social Media Strategy, MIT
Devavrat Shah, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT
Jump-start your weekend at the MIT Museum. Enjoy performances, demonstrations, and short talks throughout our galleries. Mix and mingle; relax and unwind!
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
More info: 617.253.5927
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International Development Hackathon 2016
Friday, February 12 at 5:30 PM - Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 5:00 PM (EST)
Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC), 574 Boston Avenue, Medford
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-development-hackathon-2016-registration-20796381537
Organized by Harvard Developers for Development, MIT Global Poverty Initiative, Tufts Entrepreneurs Society, and Tufts Empower, the 4th annual International Development Hackathon (ID Hack) will bring together hackers, technology enthusiasts, and organizations working in international development to create impact with technology.
International Development Hackathon 2016
Co-organized by Harvard, MIT, and Tufts
with Platinum Partner Qualcomm
5:30pm February 12th - 5pm February 13th
Tufts Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC)
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/928504190558539/
The International Development Hackathon (IDHack) is a 24-hour hackathon that brings together hackers, international development enthusiasts, and NGOs from the greater Boston area to work on projects that will make an impact on international development.
Projects are selected from NGOs, private sector comanies and governmental organizations and vetted by the organizers. Visit our website.
Schedule
5:30PM Door open for check in
5:30PM-6:30PM Networking session with sponsors
6:30-7:30PM Project pitches
7:30PM Dinner + project and group selection
8:00PM Begin hacking!
1:00AM Midnight snack
7:00AM Breakfast + coffee
12:00PM Lunch
1:30PM Deadline for project submission (code/link/etc)
2:00PM-3:00PM Projects fair + preliminary judging
3:00PM Top presentations + Closing ceremony
All skill levels welcome!
Making a difference in the world, networking, great prizes...
I’D Hack for international development
... wouldn't you?
Registration is limited to current students (college, graduate school, etc.)
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide travel reimbursements for those planning to fly in. We will be offering a Lyft promo code to get to the event!
Have questions about International Development Hackathon 2016? Contact Harvard Developers for Development, MIT Global Poverty Initiative, Tufts Institute for Global Leadership
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Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran
Friday, February 12
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies welcome journalist LAURA SECOR for a discussion of her book Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran, a look at the drama that shaped today’s Iran, from the Revolution to the present day.
About Children of Paradise
In 1979, seemingly overnight—moving at a clip some thirty years faster than the rest of the world—Iran became the first revolutionary theocracy in modern times. Since then, the country has been largely a black box to the West, a sinister presence looming over the horizon. But inside Iran, a breathtaking drama has unfolded since then, as religious thinkers, political operatives, poets, journalists, and activists have imagined and reimagined what Iran should be. They have drawn as deeply on the traditions of the West as of the East and have acted upon their beliefs with urgency and passion, frequently staking their lives for them.
With more than a decade of experience reporting on, researching, and writing about Iran, Laura Secor narrates this unprecedented history as a story of individuals caught up in the slipstream of their time, seizing and wielding ideas powerful enough to shift its course as they wrestle with their country’s apparatus of violent repression as well as its rich and often tragic history. Essential reading at this moment when the fates of our countries have never been more entwined, Children of Paradise will stand as a classic of political reporting; an indelible portrait of a nation and its people striving for change.
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Saturday, February 13
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Bread & Puppet Theater: The Overtakelessness Circus
Saturday, February 13
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
MassArt / Tower Auditorium, Massachusetts College of Art & Design , 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-puppet-theater-the-overtakelessness-circus-tickets-20812656215
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 DirectorPeter 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 Overtakelessness Circus which takes its title and some of its themes from Emily Dickinsons poems. Appropriate for all ages, the Circus features a team of Corporate Overlords, Pinky the Elephant, The Lizard People, a Ship of Fools, and the ever popular Bread & Puppet Brass Band, all combined to create a hectic, hilarious, and beautiful monument to "the shipwreck" of our current situation. If some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying kids can usually explain them. After each performance, 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 avolunteer rehearsal/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.
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Pena: African Heritage and its Influence in the Diasporas
Saturday, February 13
7:30 PM
encuentro5, 9a Hamilton place Boston
$5 suggested. no one turned away
Refreshments provided
Join us to commemorate and celebrate African Heritage and its influence on the many Diasporas. There are many Diasporas in the Americas
especially in the USA. We will honor our ancestors by sharing pieces of history not widely known or spoken about.
Among these facts are the collaborative relationships between those Indigenous Peoples of the Americas who had themselves been enslaved
before the Africans were kidnapped, brought to this part of the world and enslaved. This is a piece of history not mentioned and not included
in USA textbooks.
Join us on the journey and enjoy some of the African Heritage influence in music, dance and food throughout the Americas, Caribbean and parts of Europe. Bring Afrocentric music, instruments song and stories. We have gathered a diverse group of performers on the program. We need you to help make this a memorable evening!
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Tuesday, February 16
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Sam Feist, CNN
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.
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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)
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
Praise
"In this insightful guide to contemporary music appreciation, genre limitations are off the table …Ratliff’s scholarship shines; there’s a lot to be said for a book on music appreciation that can draw apt parallels between DJ Screw and Bernstein’s rendition of Mahler’s ninth symphony." —Publishers Weekly
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, February 17
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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:
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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.
Have an idea for a lightning talk? We'd love to get you involved. Please fill out this form http://goo.gl/forms/WHbdMLQYtf by Feb. 10.
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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.
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Thursday, February 18
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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.
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Friday, February 19
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
Praise
"You reach the end of this fascinating study confident that you’ve followed its contours—confident that it has contours you can follow. And then the story explodes all over again, pulling Goya and Superman and Psychoanalysis (the comic book) and Art Spiegelman and everyone else back into a crisis—Charlie Hebdo, and which side are you on?—that starts the story all over again, that makes you feel as if you’re at the beginning of Chute’s tale, with nothing settled and everything up for grabs." —Greil Marcus, author of Three Songs, Three Singers, Three Nations
"Hillary Chute is the only comics academic I know who pens page-turners, and Disaster Drawnis no exception; Chute writes eloquently and readably about the three artists who most viscerally try to picture the brutality, horror, and inhumanity of humanity with unflinching and indelible moral courage. Disaster Drawn is a consuming dissection of the nature of trauma in visual narrative, and you, the reader, won’t be able to look away." —Chris Ware, author of Building Stories
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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
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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.
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Saturday, February 20
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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
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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.
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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 Dr, 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!
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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!
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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
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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
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This Changes Everything: A Film Screening + Discussion
Saturday, February 20
2 pm
Harvard, Emerson Hall 210, 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
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Sunday, February 21
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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.
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Monday, February 22
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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.
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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.
STS Circle at Harvard
Contact Name: Shana Rabinowich
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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
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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
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Tuesday, February 23
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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CRISPR Biology and the Future of Genome Engineering
Tuesday, February 23
4pm
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley
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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.
Praise
"An important pundit delivers a thorough exegesis of the stubborn recurrence of the fringe right wing in response to a sense of 'lost social status in a rapidly changing country.'" —Kirkus Reviews
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Opportunity
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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]
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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.
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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).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
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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.)
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Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
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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.
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development
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.
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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
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://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
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