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.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
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.
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Monday, April 25
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12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - The Stratospheric Circulation: Drivers of Variability and Impacts on Tropospheric Ozone
12pm Cultivating Resilience with Heuristics and Systems Thinking: Lessons from New Industries
12pm Efficiency and equity implications of China’s national cap-and-trade system
12:10pm The evolution of crop species: Insights from genomics to archaeology
12:15pm The Earthquake in Nepal: Reflections on Relief & Recovery One Year Later
2:30pm How Segregated is Urban Consumption
4pm Sanitation and Waste Management (Solid and Liquid) in Urban India: The Challenge and Opportunity for Entrepreneurs
4pm A Conversation on Conversation
4pm Spatial and Social Frictions in the City: Evidence from Yelp
4pm Book Talk: Unfinished Revolutions Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia after the Arab Spring
4pm On the Transnational Destruction of Cities: What Japan and the U.S. Learned from the Bombing of Britain and Germany in World War II
4pm Thesis defense: Decoding Observational Learning: A Circuit Level Analysis of the Social Brain
4:30pm Towards artificial living materials
4:45pm The future of nuclear energy or the lament of a life long nuclear guy
5pm Film Screening of "Exit Zero: An Industrial Family Story”
5:30pm President's Challenge Demo Day
5:30pm Massachusetts: A Case Study on Climate Action and Energy Finance
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Tuesday, April 26
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11:45am Skin-Inspired Flexible and Stretchable Electronic Sensors
12pm Consequences of earlier springs for phenological overlap in and among plants, caribou, and muskoxen in Greenland
12pm Berkman Tuesday Luncheon Series featuring Susan Crawford
12:30pm The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and America’s Leadership in the Asia-Pacific Region
4pm Towards an understanding of the human microbial ecosystem
4pm Europe & the New Russia as seen from Northern Europe
4pm Design Thinking at the Intersection of Technology and Policy
6pm Environment and Health Effects of China's Industrial Growth
6:30pm Designing with Water - by Jason Hellendrung, Sasaki Associates
7pm “The Boy and the Beast” from award-winning director Mamoru Hosoda
7pm Sustainable Socials with Green Cambridge!
7:30pm Film Screening: Merchants of Doubt
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Wednesday, April 27
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12pm MIT Water Club Open House
12pm Sack Lunch Seminar (SLS) - Matthew Alford, Scripps Institute of Oceanography
12pm Civilian-Military Cooperation in Humanitarian Response
12pm Get Free: Hip Hop Civics Education
12pm "Chilling Effects": Insights on how laws and surveillance impact people online
12pm Beyond Ideology: A Conversation on Race, Violence and Justice
12pm The Cost of Silence: Causes and Consequences of Abortion Stigma in the United States and Around the World
12:10pm Seasonality and cold hardiness of temperate tree species under global warming
12:30pm Reporting from China
4pm How Destructive is Innovation?
4:15pm Controlling Carbon Emissions from U.S. Power Plants: How a Tradable Performance Standard Compares to a Carbon Tax
5:30pm Green Line Extension Re-Design
6:30pm From Reality TV to Urban Farming: Changing Careers & Starting a Successful Second Career
6:30pm Movie Screening: Cooked
7pm Cambridge Forum: All About Bees
7pm Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s
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Thursday, April 28
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12pm Sacred Rice: Environmental Change and Structural Uncertainty in Rural West Africa
12pm Educational Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship: Startup Showcase
12:15pm Lawyers, Guns, and Money? Combating Mexican Transnational Criminal Networks
2pm Webinar: Four strategies solar installers can use to reduce soft costs
2pm Creativity + Conflict Resolution: A Leadership Development Workshop with Dr. Guila Clara Kessous
3pm How to Evaluate Economic Benefits of Local Food Systems
3:30pm Emissions Trading in Urban China
5pm Michael Webber on his new book: The Energy-Water Nexus
5pm Claim No Easy Victories: Can the Social Sciences Serve the Equity Interest of the Poor?
5pm Genomics - Decoding the Future ; Life Science meets Big Data and Analytics
5:30pm The future of the Out of Town News Kiosk: Cambridge Neighborhood and Long Term Planning Committee discussion
6pm Future of the Museum
6pm Workshop and Facilitated Discussion on the Health Risks of Climate Change
6:30pm Special Evening to Discuss Issues of Climate
7pm Soil: Rising Star in the Climate Movement
7pm MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize Final Pitch Event & Awards
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Friday, April 29
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9am Native People, Native Politics Conference
10am Lessons from a Great Negotiator: A Conversation with Senator George Mitchell
2:30pm The New Muckrakers and the Old Farm Bloc: The Twentieth- Century Politics of Surplus and Abundance
3pm The Smart Grid Opportunity: from Automation to Autonomy
5:30pm ARTS FIRST: Jazz on the Plaza
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Saturday, April 30
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9am The Power and Promise of Biodiversity
12pm MIT Clean Energy Prize Showcase & Award Ceremony
2pm March & Rally in support of fossil fuel divestment in Somerville
2pm Solving Transit and Traffic Problems in the Cambridge Corridor
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Sunday, May 1
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11am CoOp DiscoTech Boston
3pm Health Risks of Climate Change in Cambridge
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Monday, May 2
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11:30am Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action
12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - Christiane Jablonowski, Michigan
12pm Energy Cooperation in China’s “One Belt One Road” Initiative
2:30pm The Psychological Lives of the Poor
2:30pm Why is Pollution from U.S. Manufacturing Declining? The Roles of Trade, Regulation, Productivity, and Preferences
3pm After Ukraine, After Syria: What's Next?
4pm One Plus One Equals One: Historical and Modern Perspectives on the Evolution of Eukaryotic Photosynthesis
4pm Womenomics and Economic Reconstruction: A View from Fukushima
4pm Thinking Fast Makes Changing Slow, Lydia Villa-Komaroff, MIT STS Morison Prize Lecture
4:10pm Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Technology and Democracy
4:15pm The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change
5pm Reflections on Emerging Microbial Threats
5pm Haiti: Voice, Gender and Representation in the Aftermath of Disaster
5pm Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
5:30pm ArtWeek Opening Reception Party
6pm Discovering Home: An Evening with the Silk Road Ensemble
7pm The Mechanical Horse: How the Bicycle Reshaped American Life
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Tuesday, May 3
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: Paperflite, thoughtbot, MobileLeads LLC, and More!
4pm How "New" is the New National Front?: Mapping Out Marine Le Pen's Rhetorical Turn With Digital Humanities Software
5pm Common Ground for Health: Precision, Personalized, and Social Medicine
5:30pm Askwith Forum - Teens and Sex: Navigating from Shame and Regret to Integrity and Wellness
6pm TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking
6pm The Momentum towards Sustainability and Challenges Facing Youth
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
Zero Net Energy - April 20, 2016
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
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Monday, April 25
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - The Stratospheric Circulation: Drivers of Variability and Impacts on Tropospheric Ozone
Monday, April 25
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Speaker: Jessica Neu (JPL)
Dr. Jessica Neu's research focuses on understanding what controls the chemical composition of the atmosphere at the regional and global scale and, ultimately, how atmospheric composition will change with and feed-back onto changes in other components of the climate system. She employs a hierarchy of models of varying complexity in combination with measurements from both satellite remote sensing and in situ instruments, and her work encompasses a wide variety of techniques, including theoretical studies, numerical modeling, and analysis of observational data to address these issues. Her work has recently evolved to include data assimilation and adjoint modeling techniques to facilitate model-measurement intercomparison as well as Observing System Simulation Experiments to define science objective-based requirements for future satellite missions.
Event website: http://bit.ly/1P33yOq
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Cultivating Resilience with Heuristics and Systems Thinking: Lessons from New Industries
Monday, April 25
12:00p–1:00p
Speaker: Burl Amsbury, Business Consultant, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Cattleman; MIT SDM alumnus
The interdependence of finance and information can greatly impact the resilience of a company while helping it address socio-political and environmental concerns. In this respect, regenerative ranching, sustainable agriculture, organic foods, integrative medicine, and other new or niche markets have much to teach companies of any age, in any industry. Two key elements many use to compete effectively are heuristics and systems thinking.
In this webinar, SDM alumnus Burl Amsbury will offer lessons in how to design or redesign your organization by sharing specific systems thinking heuristics drawn from his experience as an entrepreneur, startup executive, big company employee, US Navy pilot, engineer, and creative problem-solver. Using examples from new and/or niche industries, Amsbury will discuss:
common themes among industries that employ systems thinking principles???even if they don???t use that term;
why systems thinking is rapidly being put to work in so many disparate fields; and
heuristic principles for designing an entrepreneurial organization within a fast-growth niche in any industry.
A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us!
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series
About the Series
Sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series 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.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: See url above.
Sponsor(s): MIT System Design & Management, MIT System Design & Management program
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
617-253-0812
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Efficiency and equity implications of China’s national cap-and-trade system
Monday, April 25
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Pu Wang, Giorgio Ruffolo Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Sustainability Science in the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
This series is presented by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy/Consortium for Energy Policy Research at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. Lunch will be provided.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar Series
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
(617) 495-8693
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The evolution of crop species: Insights from genomics to archaeology
12:10 pm
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Michael Purugganan, New York University
More information at arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu
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The Earthquake in Nepal: Reflections on Relief & Recovery One Year Later
WHEN Mon., Apr. 25, 2016, 12:15 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center Lobby, Suite 200 North, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; Program on Crisis Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
COST N/A
CONTACT INFO maisie_obrien@hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS On April 25, 2015, the Gorkha Earthquake struck Nepal, causing extensive damage and taking the lives of thousands. In this panel discussion, speakers will draw on their research to discuss how relief and recovery have progressed in the year since the disaster occurred.
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How Segregated is Urban Consumption
Monday, April 25
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E52-532, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Jonathan Dingel (Booth School of Business)
Web site: http://economics.mit.edu/files/11489
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): International Seminar
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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Sanitation and Waste Management (Solid and Liquid) in Urban India: The Challenge and Opportunity for Entrepreneurs
Monday, April 25
4-5pm
MIT, Building 4-237, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://goo.gl/forms/ax9QTKHKUL
Details: Manas Rath, an MIT Alum, is an advisor to some outstanding socially-focused businesses and non-profit organizations in India, as well as to impact investors and philanthropists. He has worked extensively on issues of urban sanitation, education/youth development and disabilities, helping social enterprises scale their impact, develop sustainable operating models and build stronger teams. He serves on the Clean India (Swachh Bharat) Task Force of the Government of India, and on CSR and advisory boards.
Manas works extensively with BORDA, a German technical non-profit organization with operations in 24 countries, focused on de-centralized sewage management solutions. Specifically, BORDA has played a key role in developing Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems (DEWATS) that use zero electricity (purely biological treatment) and require minimal maintenance by un-skilled labor, and thus are robust enough to be deployed in the most difficult and remote locations. Over 4,000 of these systems have been designed and installed across Africa, India, Indonesia and 20 other countries. They have built over 400 systems in India treating from 20,000 – 2 million liters of sewage per day.
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A Conversation on Conversation
Monday, April 25
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, E51-095, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sherry Turkle, MIT, and Wade Roush, MIT
STS Speaker Series Colloquium
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/sts/index.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): HASTS
For more information, contact: Gus Zahariadis
617-253-3452
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Spatial and Social Frictions in the City: Evidence from Yelp
Monday, April 25
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E52-532, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Jonathan Dingel (Booth School of Business)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): International Seminar
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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Book Talk: Unfinished Revolutions Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia after the Arab Spring
WHEN Mon., Apr. 25, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Nye A, Taubman Building, Fifth Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) A discussion with Ibrahim Fraihat, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution Doha Center and Affiliate Scholar, Georgetown University in Qatar, on his most recent book Unfinished Revolutions from Yale University Press.
COST Free and open to the public
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On the Transnational Destruction of Cities: What Japan and the U.S. Learned from the Bombing of Britain and Germany in World War II
Monday, April 25
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Harvard, Robinson Hall Lower Library, 35 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Sheldon Garon Nissan Professor in Japanese Studies, Professor of History and East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Commentator: Fredrik Logevall, Harvard Kennedy School
Graduate Student Commentator: David Krueger, PhD Candidate in History, Harvard University
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Thesis defense: Decoding Observational Learning: A Circuit Level Analysis of the Social Brain
Monday, April 25
4:00pm - 6:00pm
MIT, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex, 43 Vassar Street, Picower Seminar Room 46-3310, Cambridge MA
Speaker: Stephen Allsop, Tye Lab
The ability to engage in appropriate social interaction is a critical component of daily life that requires integration of multiple neural processes and can be perturbed in numerous psychiatric diseases (Adolphs et al. 2003; Frith et al. 2008). One approach to begin understanding how the brain supports a complex array of social behaviors is to study innate, evolutionarily conserved social behaviors. Observational fear learning is one such social behavior that offers a distinct advantage for survival and is thus highly conserved across various species including rodents (Heyes et al. 1990; Kavaliers et al. 2001), monkeys (Mineka et al. 1984), and humans (Olsson et al. 2007). The data presented in this thesis combines in vivo electrophysiology, optogenetics, and rodent behavior in order to answer a number of questions about the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the amygdala in observational fear learning. We show that both the ACC and the amygdala contain neurons that show conditioned responses to the cue and are therefore neural correlates of observational fear learning. We photoidentify neurons within the ACC-BLA network and show that the ACC-BLA network has an enhanced representation of cue information when compared to out of network neurons. In addition, we show that ACC neurons that project to the BLA encode cue information. Next, we inhibit ACC input to the BLA during the cue and show that this impairs observational learning but not classical fear conditioning. Further, inhibition of ACC input to the BLA changes the cue response of a subset of BLA neurons. Lastly, we show that ACC input to the BLA is necessary for normal social interaction. Together, this data provides the first circuit level analysis of observational fear learning. It establishes that the transfer of cue information from the ACC to the BLA plays a causal role in enabling observational learning and that this same input is needed for general social behavior.
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Towards artificial living materials
Monday, April 25
4:30-5:30pm
MIT, Buidling 2-190, 2 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Michael P. Brenner, Harvard University
Adventures in Applied Mathematics
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The future of nuclear energy or the lament of a life long nuclear guy
Monday, April 25
4:45p–6:30p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: John Rowe; Chairman Emeritus, Exelon Corporation
The prerequisites for a new generation of nuclear plants are simple, but have not yet been met:
1) A shortage of base load electricity;
2) A shortage of natural gas;
3) A new and simplified plant design; and
4) An accepted solution to the nuclear waste disposal problem.
In the absence of these factors, new nuclear power plants will not be economic in the United States or most of Europe for several decades.
This simple conclusion begs a number of other questions. These include: How long will the existing plants be economic? How many good jobs will be created as we seek as much value as we can in the existing fleet? What factors are impacting the value of the existing fleet? What do we need to do to keep the existing plants as safe as they have been? How are we ever going to build a waste disposal facility?
As that great nuclear engineer, Robert Frost, put it: Miles to go before we sleep. In this talk, John Rowe will discuss his many years of experience in the nuclear industry and thoughts on the future of nuclear energy.
Web site: http://mitei.mit.edu/rowe
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
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Film Screening of "Exit Zero: An Industrial Family Story"
Monday, April 25
5:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Melissa Nobles, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences will introduce the film. The filmmakers along with Professor David Autor of the Economics Department will discuss the film following the screening.
Film screening of "Exit Zero: An Industrial Family Story". Filmmakers, Chris Walley (Anthropology Professor) and Chris Boebel (Office of Digital Learning) will screen their film which documents the effects that the closing of the steel mills in Southeast Chicago had on Professor Walley's family. This is an intimate, moving documentary of a Rust Belt family struggling to come to terms with a changing America.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Anthropology Program, MIT First Generation Program
For more information, contact: Irene Hartford
617-452-2837
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President's Challenge Demo Day
WHEN Mon., Apr. 25, 2016, 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard i-Lab, 125 Western Avenue, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard I-Labs
COST Free and open to the public
TICKET WEB LINK https://i-lab.harvard.edu/event/presidents-challenge-demo-day/
DETAILS We are pleased to invite you to the President’s Challenge Demo Day here at the i-lab. The President’s Challenge encourages students from across Harvard to come up with creative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Ten finalist teams have been announced and awarded a seed grant of $5,000 along with support from the i-lab, including mentoring, workshops and workspace. At Demo Day these ten finalist teams will showcase their efforts and progress in making impact on the world around them. The Grand Prize Pool of $100,000 will be awarded to the winning team and three runners up.
We hope you are able to join us for this celebratory evening!
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Massachusetts: A Case Study on Climate Action and Energy Finance
Monday, April 25
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Unitarian Universalist Association, 24 Farnsworth Street, Boston
Larry Chretien, executive director of the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance (Mass Energy), will provide an update on progress the Commonwealth is making towards its legally binding commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80% by 2050. He will discuss how that progress is influencing patterns of energy consumption and investment, presenting Massachusetts as a microcosm for the nation and other developed countries that have yet to realize accomplishments of places like Germany or Denmark.
Larry has been executive director of Mass Energy for sixteen years and holds a bachelor’s in resource management and a master’s in economic policy. He is also a member of the Mass. Energy Efficiency Advisory Council.
Mass Energy, a nonprofit organization with a mission to make energy more affordable and environmentally sustainable, blends direct service with multiple energy-related programs and advocacy (mostly at the state level) in Massachusetts and Rhode Island where it does business as People’s Power & Light. Among other things, Mass Energy is a green power supplier, offering consumers an opportunity to meet their electricity needs with in-state renewable energy sources.
Thank you to UUA for the use of their space once again.
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Tuesday, April 26
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Skin-Inspired Flexible and Stretchable Electronic Sensors
Tuesday, April 26
11:45am to 12:45pm
Harvard, Geological Museum 102, Haller Hall, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Zhenan Bao, Stanford University
Skin is the body’s largest organ, and is responsible for the transduction of a vast amount of information. This conformable, stretchable and biodegradable material simultaneously collects signals from external stimuli that translate into information such as pressure, pain, and temperature. The development of electronic sensors, inspired by the complexity of this organ is a tremendous, unrealized materials challenge. However, the advent of organic and carbon-based electronic materials may offer a potential solution to this longstanding problem. In this talk, I will describe organic and carbon nano electronic sensors to mimic skin sensing functions. An artificial system that closely mimics the digital nature of human skin mechanoreceptor for neuroprosthetics using flexible printed organic electronic circuits and pressure sensors will be presented.
Topics in Bioengineering
Contact: Rebekah Stiles
Email: rstiles@seas.harvard.edu
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Consequences of earlier springs for phenological overlap in and among plants, caribou, and muskoxen in Greenland
Tuesday, April 26
12:00pm to 1:00pm
22 Divinity Avenue, Seminar Room 125, Cambridge
Eric Post, Director, The Polar Center, Penn State University
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Berkman Tuesday Luncheon Series featuring Susan Crawford, The John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center
Tuesday, April 26
12:00 pm
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1015 (first floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/04/Crawford#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/04/Crawford at 12:00 pm.
Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center. She is the author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, co-author of The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance, and a contributor to Medium.com’s Backchannel. She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and co-led the FCC transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations. She also served as a member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology and Innovation and is now a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Broadband Task Force. Ms. Crawford was formerly a (Visiting) Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Michigan Law School (2008-2010). As an academic, she teaches courses about city uses of technology, Internet law, and communications law. She was a member of the board of directors of ICANN from 2005-2008 and is the founder of OneWebDay, a global Earth Day for the internet that takes place each Sept. 22. One of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015; one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology (2009); IP3 Awardee (2010); one of Prospect Magazine’s Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future (2011); and one of TIME Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech (2013). Ms. Crawford received her B.A. and J.D. from Yale University. She served as a clerk for Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) (Washington, D.C.) until the end of 2002, when she left that firm to enter the legal academy.
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and America’s Leadership in the Asia-Pacific Region
WHEN Tue., Apr. 26, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Wendy Cutler, vice president and managing director, Washington Office, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI)
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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Towards an understanding of the human microbial ecosystem
Tuesday, April 26
4pm
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Dr. David Relman
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Europe & the New Russia as seen from Northern Europe
Tuesday, April 26
4:00PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Belfer 503, CBG Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Ulf Sverdrup, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Hosted by Ole Gunnar Austvik, M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School. Advance registration is not required. All sessions are open.
Professor Sverdrup will address the political tension between the U.S. and EU on the one side and Russia on other, resulting in mutual sanctions, militarization and energy security problems. He will discuss how recent developments challenge the attitudes and positions of the Nordic countries relative to pursuing a policy of continued cooperation with Russia.
Europe and the Geopolitics of Energy Study Group
Contact Name: Ole Gunnar Austvik
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Design Thinking at the Intersection of Technology and Policy
Tuesday, April 26
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
Ash Center for Democractic Governance and Innovation, 124 Mount Auburn Street, 2nd Floor North, Cambridge
Anjelika Deogirikar, ORGANIZE Innovator in Residence, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Are you curious to learn more about applying design thinking? Anjelika Deogirikar will introduce human-centered design principles and discuss how to apply tools from the design thinker’s toolkit to your work as a policy innovator. Anjelika will draw on her recent experiences using human-centered design to help the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rethink the organ donor and transplant ecosystem in the U.S. Students will apply these new tools to develop a practical innovation or creative solution to a big challenge within the sphere of cybersecurity, ‘making democracy work’, or digital media and politics.
Part of the Technology and Democracy Workshop Series
About the Technology and Democracy Workshop Series
The Ash Center’s non-resident Technology and Democracy Fellows will design and lead a series of hands-on workshops for Harvard Kennedy School students, co-sponsored by Tech4Change. Each workshop will help participants develop their “technological intelligence” and learn skills related to understanding, managing, or creating digital technologies with the potential to improve the quality of democratic governance. Visit ash.harvard.edu to read more. RSVP is required. Space is limited.
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Environment and Health Effects of China's Industrial Growth
Tuesday, April 26
6pm
MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
Dinner included!
Dr. Valerie Karplus, Project Director, Tsinghua-MIT China Energy and Climate Project & Professor Xiliang Zhang, Director, 3E Institute, Tsinghua University
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Designing with Water - by Jason Hellendrung, Sasaki Associates
Tuesday, April 26
6:30-7:30pm
MIT, Building 4-231, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Jason will present some of Sasaki's recent work on addressing challenges faced by waterfront cities due to sea level rise. His presentation will focus on Sasaki’s work with Memphis and Shelby County’s winning application to HUD’s National Disaster Resilience Competition, which created a holistic approach to water and city resilience.
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“The Boy and the Beast” from award-winning director Mamoru Hosoda
Tuesday, April 26
7:00pm
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Latest feature anime film from award-winning Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children)
When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he’s taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who’s been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely family will be put to ultimate test—a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.
Screening followed by discussion with Ian Condry (MIT) and Jennifer Fu (Funimation)
Free
Open to public
Before the film, please join us: Pizza Dinner Discussion “From MIT to the Anime Industry: A Conversation with Jennifer Fu”
5-6:30pm in 14E-304
(RSVP for dinner discussion: gsl-events@mit.edu)
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Sustainable Socials with Green Cambridge!
Tuesday, April 26
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Plug Cambridge, 618 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Look for our banner!
Come and join Green Cambridge for our monthly Thursday meet-up! NOTE THE DATE CHANGE!!
Our two Northeastern Coops, Erin Silver-Wheeler and Marley Kimelman, will be discussing and presenting our multitude of projects and volunteer opportunities.
We will also be serving free wine, beer, and snacks!!
We are a group of Cantabrigians dedicated to improving the environment and striving for sustainability. We'll be talking about all things green, giving run-downs on our community, advocacy and organizing work, and just getting to know one another.
More information at http://www.greencambridge.org
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Film Screening: Merchants of Doubt
Tuesday, April 26
7:30 PM
MIT, Building 32-155, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
"Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, MERCHANTS OF DOUBT takes audiences on a satirically comedic, yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver- tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.”
Contact Science for the People (Sftp@mit.edu) and Radius (radius@mit.edu) for more information
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Wednesday, April 27
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MIT Water Club Open House
Wednesday, April 27
12-1pm
Are you interested in learning more about who we are and what we do? Join us for an interactive lunch time open house where we will give an overview of our activities this year as well as our exciting plans for the future. Whether you would like to get involved in the club or are simply curious about our events, we are excited to meet you! More information will be available shortly.
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Sack Lunch Seminar (SLS) - Matthew Alford, Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Wednesday, April 27,
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Matthew Alford, Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Dr. Alford is a seagoing physical oceanographer and the head of the Wave Chasers group. He employs specialized instruments to better describe and understand processes that occur on scales, say, < 10 km; however, he is also interested in how these affect both coastal processes and the larger-scale circulation.
His research focuses on: 1) process studies of these phenomena themselves, 2) instrument development, 3) observational techniques to better study them, and 4) the specific ways in which they affect global-scale phenomena as well as biological/chemical processes such as anoxia.
In 2002 Alford received the Office of Naval Research's prestigious Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award, and in 2009 received the University of Washington College of Fishery and Ocean Sciences' Distinguished Research Award.
He has over 70 refereed publications in top-tier journals including Nature and Journal of Physical Oceanography, and has led several ambitious experiments funded by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.
Event website: http://bit.ly/1RQpuuO
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Civilian-Military Cooperation in Humanitarian Response
Wednesday April 27
12:00-1:00pm
Where: MIT Building E38, 6th floor conference room, 292 Main Street, Cambridge
Lunch provided.
Please join the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Working Group at MIT for a lunch seminar with Commander Rodrigo Arancibia of the Chilean Navy and Professor David Polatty of the U.S. Navy. They will be talking about the current state of civilian-military cooperation during natural disasters and complex emergencies with a focus on recent disasters and emergencies including the 2010 Chilean earthquake, the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, and ongoing humanitarian relief efforts in Syria.
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Get Free: Hip Hop Civics Education
WHEN Wed., Apr. 27, 2016, 12 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Bettina Love, associate professor of educational theory & practice, University of Georgia
COST Free & open to the public
CONTACT INFO hutchevents@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS A Q+A will follow the lecture.
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"Chilling Effects": Insights on how laws and surveillance impact people online
Wednesday, April 27
12:00 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person: https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/04/Penney#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/04/Penney at 12:00 pm.
with Jon Penney
With Internet censorship and mass surveillance on the rise globally, understanding regulatory "chilling effects"— the idea that laws, regulations, or state surveillance can deter people from exercising their freedoms or engaging in entirely legal activities— has thus today, in our Post-Snowden world, taken on greater urgency and public importance. Yet, the notion is not uncontroversial; commentators, scholars, and researchers, from a variety of fields, have long questioned such chilling effects claims, including their existence or extent of any "chill" and related harms, particularly so in online contexts, leading to recent calls for more systematic and interdisciplinary research on point.
In this talk, Jon will draw on his doctoral research at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, to help fill in some of the gaps in our understanding of chilling effects online. Through discussion of three empirical legal case studies— one on surveillance-related chilling effects and Wikipedia, a second on the impact of the DMCA's copyright enforcement scheme, and a third survey-based study on "chilling effect scenarios"— Jon will offer insights on these and other questions: What is the nature and scale of regulatory chilling effects online? Do they persist or are they merely temporary? What factors may influence their impact? Jon will also reflect on the importance of open data platforms like the Lumen Database and Wikimedia Foundation's data portals to future research in this, and related, areas.
About Jon
Jon Penney is a lawyer, a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (Balliol College), and a research fellow at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. A recent Berkman Fellow and then Affiliate, Jon’s doctoral research explores regulatory chilling effects online and is affiliated with the Takedown Project, a research collective studying “notice and takedown”, and related regulatory systems globally, based at the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law. Jon has also spent time as a Google Policy Fellow at the Citizen Lab—working on both transparency and online censorship issues— and was previously Project Coordinator for the Privacy Value Networks Project, a large scale, multi-university, multi-million dollar Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) funded project on data privacy, led by the Oxford Internet Institute.
His research, more generally, concerns human rights, intellectual property, and information / digital media law and policy, particularly where these areas intersect with privacy, censorship, and security
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Beyond Ideology: A Conversation on Race, Violence and Justice
Wednesday, April 27
12:00 - 1:30pm
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
Please join Jelani Cobb, Professor of History and Director of the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Connecticut, contributor to The New Yorker, and recipient of the 2016 Jay College of Criminal Justice Trailblazer award, along with Thomas Abt, Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Lecturer with the Harvard Kennedy School and former Deputy Secretary for Public Safety for New York State, for a wide-ranging dialogue on new pathways for addressing the some of the most sensitive and polarizing issues in criminal justice today. Leah Wright Rigueur, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, will moderate the discussion.
Presented by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Center.
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The Cost of Silence: Causes and Consequences of Abortion Stigma in the United States and Around the World
Wednesday, April 27
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building 14E-304, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Elizabeth Janiak, Brigham and Womens Hospital
Elizabeth Janiak uses a health equity framework, multilevel perspective, and mixed-methods approach to investigate determinants of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Dr. Janiak is Education and Research Program Manager at Brigham and Womens Hospital.
Though abortion is common in legal and illegal settings around the world, abortion experiences remain shrouded in silence. People seeking abortion and the health care providers who care for them experience social stigma with potentially profound consequences for personal and community well-being. This talk will describe abortion stigma and its manifestations in public policy, health care infrastructure, and interpersonal interactions. We will explore how abortion stigma contributes to maternal mortality and occupational stress for providers, and will situate these downstream effects in the broader context of gender inequality.
Lunch will be provided. We hope you will be able to join us for this important talk!
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Global Health and Medical Humanities Initiative, Women's and Gender Studies
For more information, contact: Brittany Peters
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Seasonality and cold hardiness of temperate tree species under global warming
Wednesday, April 27
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Yann Vitasse, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Arnold Arboretum Research Talks
Contact Name: arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu
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Reporting from China
WHEN Wed., Apr. 27, 2016, 12:30 – 1:50 p.m.
WHERE S020, 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; co-sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
SPEAKER(S) David Barboza, Correspondent for The New York Times, Shanghai, China
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How Destructive is Innovation?
Wednesday, April 27
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-250, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Peter Klenow (Stanford University)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Finance Seminar
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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Controlling Carbon Emissions from U.S. Power Plants: How a Tradable Performance Standard Compares to a Carbon Tax
Wednesday, April 27
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Room L-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Warwick McKibbin, Australian National University, Adele Morris, Brookings Institution, and Peter Wilcoxen, Syracuse University,
Support from Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics and the Department of Economics is gratefully acknowledged. For further information, contact Professor Stavins (617-495-1820), Professor Weitzman (617-495-5133), or the course assistant, Jason Chapman (617-496-8054).
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
Contact Name: Bryan J. Galcik
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Green Line Extension Re-Design
Wednesday, April 27
5:30-6:30 open house; 6:30-9:00 pm presentation/Q&A
St. Anthony’s Parish Hall, 400 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, Cambridge
The MBTA will host a public worskhop about the re-design and potential cost savings strategies for the Green Line Extension project.
More information at http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us
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From Reality TV to Urban Farming: Changing Careers & Starting a Successful Second Career
Wednesday, April 27
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Aeronaut Brewing Company, 14 Tyler Street, Somerville
Jessie Banhazl is the CEO and Founder of Green City Growers. After graduating college, she moved to New York City and began a career in reality television production. Disillusioned with the entertainment industry, she moved back to Boston to run GCG, re-awakening her passion for food, farming, and sustainability. Since co-founding the company in 2008, Jessie has led GCG through seven successful seasons, building and maintaining over 500 raised-bed vegetable gardens, including gardens at Akamai Technologies, Google, Athenahealth, Fenway Park, and a 17,000sqft rooftop farm for Whole Foods Market.
Green City Growers transforms unused space into thriving urban farms, providing our clients with immediate access to nutritious food, while revitalizing city landscapes and inspiring self-sufficiency.To date, Green City Growers has grown over 150,000 pounds of organic produce, and worked hands-on with more than 6,000 individuals, all in under two acres of growing space.
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Movie Screening: Cooked
Wednesday, April 27
6:30pm - 8pm
MIT, Building E51-145, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
The Happy Belly Club and Food & Agriculture Club present an evening of food and film! Join us for dinner and a screening of Michael Pollan's Netflix series Cooked. We'll be watching the 4th installment, "Earth," where Michael Pollan delves into the world of fermentation and the processes of making cheese and chocolate.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Food+Ag Club, Happy Belly Club
For more information, contact: MIT FAC
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Cambridge Forum: All About Bees
Wednesday, April 27
7 PM
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
What is killing our honey bees and can we save them? Bees don't just make honey, they pollinate a third of our food supply - but bee colonies are disappearing at an alarming rate in the United States. In addition to being ecologically essential insects, bees are highly social and complex creatures that have been subjected to a
barrage of attacks ranging from parasitic mites to high levels of exposure from pesticides and herbicides.
In recognition of Earth Day, Cambridge Forum is examining the plight of the poor honey bee with the help of Noah Wilson-Rich from Best Bees and David Hackenberg, apiarist and owner of Buffy Bees. If you care about the future of food and most crucially, the survival of the honey bee, please plan to attend. Come along and bring your bee-keeping friends!
Join us at Cambridge Forum. All are welcome and it is free!
Mary Stack, Director, Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-2727
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Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s
Wednesday, April 27
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Meg Jacobs
In Panic at the Pump, Meg Jacobs shows how a succession of crises beginning with the 1973 Arab oil embargo prompted American politicians to seek energy independence, and how their failure to do so shaped the world we live in. When the crisis hit, the Democratic Party was divided, with older New Deal liberals who prized access to affordable energy squaring off against young environmentalists who pushed for conservation. Meanwhile, conservative Republicans challenged both kinds of governmental activism and argued that there would be no energy crisis if the government got out of the way and let the market work. The result was a stalemate in Washington and panic across the country: miles-long gas lines, Big Oil conspiracy theories, even violent truckers' strikes.
Jacobs argues that the energy crises of the 1970s became, for many Americans, an important object lesson in the limitations of governmental power. Washington proved unable to design a national energy policy, and the inability to develop resources and conserve only made the United States more dependent on oil from abroad. As we face the repercussions of a changing climate, a volatile oil market, and continued unrest in the Middle East, Panic at the Pump is a necessary and instructive account of a formative period in American political history.
More information at (617) 661-1515 or info@harvard.com
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Thursday, April 28
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Sacred Rice: Environmental Change and Structural Uncertainty in Rural West Africa
Thursday, April 28
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Joanna Davidson, Department of Anthropology, Boston University
On the frontlines of global climate change, rural Jola farmers in Guinea-Bissau are no longer able to maintain a livelihood that has defined them for centuries. This talk explores how Jola rice farmers are responding to a range of environmental changes that are challenging them to reinvent themselves as a people. I will discuss how a desiccating climate reaches into not just the livelihoods, but the very life-ways, rhythms, ideals, and ideologies of an African people.
Dr. Joanna Davidson is a cultural anthropologist focusing on rural West Africans' responses to environmental and economic change. She has conducted long-term ethnographic research in Guinea-Bissau among Jola rice cultivators. Her book – Sacred Rice: An Ethnography of Identity, Environment, and Development in Rural West Africa – came out last summer with Oxford University Press. Prior to graduate studies in anthropology, Dr. Davidson worked for several years with a range of progressive non-governmental international development organizations in Africa and Latin America on issues such as refugee resettlement, indigenous rights, women's and rural development, and social entrepreneurship. Dr. Davidson has also conducted research on the regional dynamics of social fragility through a case study of inter-ethnic conflict across the Guinea-Bissau/Senegal border, and explored the ways in which new international development initiatives directed at agricultural transformation are playing themselves out in the sub-region. She has presented testimony and prepared policy briefings based on her research for the UN, served on the Executive Board of the American Ethnological Society, and served as a reviewer of research proposals for the Wenner-Gren Foundation. She has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from various organizations including the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and Boston University's Center for the Humanities.
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Educational Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship: Startup Showcase
Thursday, April 28
12:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Harvard Innovation Lab , 125 Western Avenue, Boston
Interested in educational innovation? Come to the Educational Innovation Startup Showcase at the Harvard Innovation Lab on Thursday, April 28th from noon to 5pm. Students from various Harvard schools and departments will present their innovative projects developed in the course, Educational Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in Comparative Perspective. It's a great opportunity to connect with members of the Harvard entrepreneurial community, professors, and students.
Admission is FREE.
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Lawyers, Guns, and Money? Combating Mexican Transnational Criminal Networks
WHEN Thu., Apr. 28, 2016, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Evelyn Krache Morris, Associate, International Security Program
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch@harvard.edu
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Webinar: Four strategies solar installers can use to reduce soft costs
Thursday, April 28
2:00pm EST/11:00am PST
RSVP at http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2016/03/four-major-ways-solar-installers-can-reduce-soft-costs/
Soft costs represent the most flexible aspect of solar project finance, yet they continue to consume outsize sums of cash—up to 64% of the total project cost, according to the DOE.
Fortunately, industry innovators are finding ways to reduce soft costs. Attend this webinar to learn four such strategies, including:
How solar companies can reduce financing costs through standardization and automation technology, particularly in the C&I sector.
How in-depth training reduces installation soft costs.
How creating and maintaining solar opportunities within local communities can reduce soft costs.
How solar software tools, techniques and workflows can accelerate proposal-to-project speed while shrinking costs.
Featured Speakers
Chad Laurent, Esq., Senior Consultant and General Counsel, Meister Consultants Group
Chad specializes in renewable energy law and policy, sustainable business strategies and renewable energy project development. He is a nationally recognized expert in solar PV soft cost reduction strategies, currently working with the U.S. Dept. of Energy. He holds a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School where he was a Rappaport Honors Fellow in Law and Public Policy, and a B.S. from the University of Michigan in Environmental Policy & Behavior and Natural Resource Ecology & Management. He is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
Paul Grana, Co-Founder, Folsom Labs
Paul is responsible for sales and marketing at Folsom Labs. His passion for data analysis began at an early age. At 13 he cracked his first code, figuring out the cheat codes for Madden ’94. Paul began his professional career in management consulting and later joined the solar industry, where he ran product management for Tigo Energy, the module-level electronics manufacturer, before co-founding Folsom Labs, which develops the advanced PV system design tool HelioScope. Paul holds an SB in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Kathy Swartz, Executive Director, Solar Energy International
Kathy is honored to serve as SEI’s Executive Director, even more so because she is one of more than 45,000 alumni of SEI. She took her first PV class in 2004, which kickstarted her career in solar. With a background in environmental education, Kathy’s goal is to ensure that SEI’s Training Program prepares participants with the knowledge and hands-on experiences needed to safely and successfully work with renewable energy systems.
Graham Smith, CEO and Founder, Open Energy Group
Graham has over 15 years of experience in renewable energy finance and building capital markets brokerage platforms. He founded Open Energy in 2013 to unlock financial technology innovation and drive increased debt financing in commercial solar. Prior to Open Energy, he founded two brokerage firms – Axiom Global in 2004 and Phoenix Partners Group in 2006, co-running the latter for seven years. Graham studied at both the University of Cambridge and University College in London
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Creativity + Conflict Resolution: A Leadership Development Workshop with Dr. Guila Clara Kessous
Thursday, April 28
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Boston University Castle, 225 Bay State Road, Boston
The workshop will explore the connection between creativity and conflict resolution strategies, drawing on insights from positive psychology (Tal Ben Shahar), leadership and negotiation (William L. Ury), executive communication skills (Marjorie North), and « management creativity » (Augusto Boal). It introduces the integrative decision-making model of ethical behavior.
Guila Clara Kessous is a specialist in Arts and Human Rights. She created the “Theatre and Human Rights” curriculum at Paris Institute of Political Studies (SciencesPo Paris) and teaches the program at the Carr Center of the Kennedy School at Harvard University. She received a PhD in ethics and aesthetics from Boston University under the mentorship of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel. In addition, she holds a State Diploma in Performing Art, an Executive MBA from ESSEC Business School and a Post-Doc from Harvard University. She is an active member of the Harvard University affiliated Institute of Coaching.
For over 10 years, Guila Clara has accompanied board members, senior executives and managers in their leadership responsibilities and has assisted them in the development of effective and innovative management strategies. She has created a tailor-made approach targeting established and emerging leaders to ensure their optimal performance in a rapidly evolving global environment.
Guila Clara was recently awarded the title of Officer from the Order of Arts and Literature by the French Minister of Culture. And for her dedication in Arts and Human Rights, she was awarded the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace.
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How to Evaluate Economic Benefits of Local Food Systems
Thursday, April 28
3 p.m. E.T.
Webinar at http://goo.gl/forms/JIOrvfQiMM
RSVP at http://goo.gl/forms/JIOrvfQiMM
Washington, DC, April 13, 2016—Local and regional food systems are helping revitalize rural and urban communities across the country. The authors of a new U.S. Department of Agriculture guide to evaluate the economic impacts of investing in farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), food hubs, and other local food systems will discuss the toolkit during a free webinar.
The Economics of Local Food Systems: A Toolkit to Guide Community Discussions, Assessments and Choices, developed by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in cooperation with Colorado State University (CSU), uses real-world projects, experiences, and applied research to help community leaders, planners, economic development specialists, public agencies, and private businesses or foundations evaluate the economic benefits of local and regional food systems.
Audience: n Community leaders, planners, economic development specialists, public agencies, and private businesses or foundations
What: nFree webinar on how to use The Economics of Local Food Systems: A Toolkit to Guide Community Discussions, Assessments and Choices. The webinar will last approximately 90- minutes.
When: 3 p.m. E.T., Thursday, April 28, 2016
Speakers: Debra Tropp, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
Alfonso Morales, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Becca Jablonski, Colorado State University
Dave Swenson, Iowa State University
Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State University
To register for the webinar, please use this link: http://goo.gl/forms/JIOrvfQiMM
If you have any questions, please email: becca.jablonski@colostate.edu
Technical issues, please email or call: ruth.willson@colostate.edu (970) 491-6988
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Emissions Trading in Urban China
Thursday, April 28
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
China Climate Seminar
Iza Ding, Department of Government.
Sponsored by the China Project, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Contact Name: Chris Nielsen
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Michael Webber on his new book: The Energy-Water Nexus
Thursday, April 28
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM (EDT)
BU, ROOM 212, Questrom School of Business, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Introduced by Cutler Cleveland, College of Arts & Sciences professor of earth and environment and Institute for Sustainable Energy affiliate.
Join Michael Webber, creator of popular energy literacy MOOC Energy 101 and PBS television special, Energy at the Movies, for a presentation of his new book on the growing nexus between energy and water, Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival.
Michael Webber is the deputy director of the Energy Institute, co-director of the Clean Energy Incubator at the Austin Technology Incubator, and associate professor of mechanical engineering andJosey Centennial Fellow in Energy Resources at the University of Texas.
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Claim No Easy Victories: Can the Social Sciences Serve the Equity Interest of the Poor?
Thursday, April 28, 2016
5:00 - 6:30pm
Harvard, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall 110, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Charles M. Payne, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago
Free and open to the public; no ticket required.
Call 617-495-1336 for more information or email katy@ethics.harvard.edu
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Genomics - Decoding the Future ; Life Science meets Big Data and Analytics
Thursday, April 28
5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center 5th Floor, Havana Conference Room, One Broadway, Cambridge
Over the last decade there has been an explosion of both data and opportunity as genomics transitioned from science fiction to everyday reality. The Boston area is primed to lead the way in this new frontier with its bustling research and start up communities.
Join us and other members of the Life Science community at Venture Café for a lively panel discussion on the current opportunities and challenges in this rapidly emerging field. We will have a discussion with some of the area’s most exciting companies doing work in this area. Together, we will explore the many possibilities and challenges on this new frontier. We hope to determine what the future holds for this quickly evolving industry.
This FREE event is sponsored by IBM and hosted by Venture Cafe. We hope you can join us for this great discussion!
TO REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/genomics-decoding-the-future-tickets-24652059975?aff=ebrowse
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The future of the Out of Town News Kiosk: Cambridge Neighborhood and Long Term Planning Committee discussion
Thursday, April 28
5:30 PM
City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor Sullivan Chamber, Cambridge
The Neighborhood and Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts and Celebrations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss the formation of a special working group that will be tasked with developing a framework for the continued stewardship, curatorship and oversight of the Out of Town Kiosk in Harvard Square.
Contact: Office of the City Clerk, 617-349-4260, tty/TDD 617-349-4242
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Future of the Museum
Thursday, April 28
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
McDermott Award
David Adjaye will be joined by Thelma Golden, Jill Medvedow, Charles Renfro, Lorna Simpson and Meejin Yoon in a discussion about the future of the museum and the relevance of physical space to cultural experience in the digital era.
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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Workshop and Facilitated Discussion on the Health Risks of Climate Change
Thursday, April 28
6pm - 8:30pm
Humanist Hub, 30 JFK Street, 4th floor, Cambridge
Rsvp at http://bit.ly/1MU80Jb
The MIT Science Impact Collaborative is working with the City of Cambridge to enhance public understanding of the health risks associated with climate change. During this interactive workshop, you will participate in a role-play simulation game based on local policy choices related to climate change and public health, followed by a facilitated debrief of the game and a discussion of how climate related health risks should be managed. Results of the sessions will be vital to ur MIT research team in identifying steps Cambridge should take to manage climate change related health risks.
Dinner will be served!
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Special Evening to Discuss Issues of Climate
Thursday, April 28
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
Colorscape Studio, 5 Pemberton Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/special-evening-to-discuss-issues-of-climate-tickets-24878978695
Colorscape Studio and members of the Boston South Asia Society cordially invite you and your friends to a special evening to discuss issues of climate. If it feels that climate is too big an issue to address at an individual or local level, this is an opportunity to come together to show solidarity with each other to bring about a new world. Cambridge is home to an exceptional array of people who are working to address the challenges of the climate era.
Come for an evening of lively discussion and light refreshments in an enchanting studio filled with beautiful artwork.
Refreshments served.
Free event.
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Soil: Rising Star in the Climate Movement
Thursday, April 28
7-8:30pm
First Church UU JP, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
with Seth Itzkan and Quinton Zondervan
In December, Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, tweeted that soil was “a rising star” at the Paris climate talks. This presentation explores the reasons for that hopeful proclamation, illustrating the promise of soil restoration to capture atmospheric carbon while providing benefits for food production and ecosystems. Seth Itzkan is co-founder of Soil4Climate and Quinton Zondervan is president of the Climate Action Business Association. Check it out
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MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize Final Pitch Event & Awards
Thursday, April 28
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
MIT Building E52, 6th Floor, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Join us for the final pitch event and award ceremony of the first MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize on Thursday, April 28th from 7-10 pm on the 6th floor of MIT building E52.
From 7:00-8:45, our nine finalists will pitch their ideas to the judges (for details on the finalist teams, check out our website). While the judges deliberate, the audience will hear from our keynote speaker (TBD). At 9:15, we will announce the winners followed by a reception with snacks and drinks. If you wish to consume alcohol at the reception, you must bring ID.
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Friday, April 29
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Native People, Native Politics Conference
WHEN Fri., Apr. 29, 2016, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Politics requires more than voting and electoral mobilization. It requires knowledge of law, organization, identity, history, and culture. This reality is very much evident in Native American life today, where Native communities are sovereign nations within the United States, yet must still negotiate politically within a federal democratic system that at times inconsistently honors their rights, their land and water, and their ways of life.
This conference will explore a range of mechanisms for political expression with leading members of Native communities, academics, policymakers, journalists, students, artists, and writers. Register online.
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Lessons from a Great Negotiator: A Conversation with Senator George Mitchell
WHEN Fri., Apr. 29, 2016, 10 – 11:30 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall,
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
SPEAKER(S)Senator George Mitchell
Recipient of the Great Negotiator Award
Former United States Senator, Former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace
Moderated by: Professor Robert Mnookin, Samuel Williston Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Chair, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Director, Harvard Negotiation Research Project
Professor James Sebenius, Gordon Donaldson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Vice-Chair of Practice-Focused Research, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Julie Barrett, jbarrett@law.harvard.edu
Polly Hamlen, mhamlen@law.harvard.edu
DETAILS In 2000, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School honored Senator George Mitchell with the Great Negotiator Award for his work as the Independent Chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. Under his leadership, the Good Friday Agreement, an historic accord ending decades of conflict, was agreed to by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the political parties of Northern Ireland.
For his service in Northern Ireland Senator Mitchell received numerous other awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the US government; the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; the Truman Institute Peace Prize; and the United Nations (UNESCO) Peace Prize.
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The New Muckrakers and the Old Farm Bloc: The Twentieth- Century Politics of Surplus and Abundance
Friday, April 29
2:30p–4:30p
MIT, Building E51-095, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sarah Phillips, Boston 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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The Smart Grid Opportunity: from Automation to Autonomy
Friday, April 29, 2016 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G125, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Sakis Meliopoulos, Georgia Institute of Technology
The electric power grid has been recognized as one of the critical infrastructures that are paramount to the economic activity of any country. The electric power grid is a large heterogeneous system, with many interdependencies on other infrastructures (fuel supply), subject to weather effects (weather related failures and weather sensitive electric load), exhibits complex dynamic interactions and it is controlled with humans in the loop. Renewables (wind, photovoltaics, etc.), distributed generation, storage, PHEVs and other distributed resources are integrated into the electric power grid at fast pace. These resources exhibit high variability/uncertainty and low inertia (inverter interfaced generation) creating new challenges and new opportunities. To fully address the challenges and realize the advantages of these technologies and to make their economics attractive, it is necessary to invent new ways of monitoring, controlling, optimizing and protecting the integrated electric power grid. The term smart grid (or grid of the future) captures the expectation for the development of these technologies which may comprise development of two-way interfaces with intelligent control, plug and play operation, re-configurability, survivability, self-healing capability, efficiency and ability to support the national grid in case of emergencies or to use stored energy to ride through disturbances. The end result is that the electric power system of the future will be a more complex but more controllable system. We discuss key issues of smart grid technologies, the technological infrastructure needed to integrate and automate multiple and diverse energy resources, the case for the electrification of the transportation sector, the impact on power system engineering curricula and the opportunities and challenges for the next generation of power engineers.
Speaker Bio: Sakis (A. P.) Meliopoulos was born on March 19, 1949 in Katerini, Greece. He obtained a Diploma in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens, Greece in 1972 and a Master in EE (1974) and a Ph.D. degree (1976) from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Dr. Meliopoulos' first professional association was with Western Electric (1971) in Atlanta, Georgia. After receiving a PhD degree in 1976, he joined the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor (1976), Associate Professor (1982-88) and full professor (1989-present). Since 1999 he is the Georgia Tech Site Director of PSERC, an NSF I/URC. In 2006 Dr. Meliopoulos was named the Georgia Power Distinguished Professor and in 2015 was appointed Associate Director of the Institute for Information Security and Privacy. He is actively involved in education and research for improved safety and electromagnetic compatibility of electric power installations, protection and control of power systems and the application of new technology in these areas. Dr. Meliopoulos has pioneered several new analysis and design techniques for bulk power reliability analysis, safety, protection and electromagnetic compatibility of electric power systems. Most well-known is the EPRI transmission reliability program TRELLS (now renamed TransCARE), the GPS-synchronized harmonic state measurement system for transmission systems (first (1993) wide area measurement system on NYPA and still operational), the distributed dynamic state estimation method (SuperCalibrator), the Dynamic State Estimator based protection, his invention of the Smart Ground Multimeter, the EPRI grounding analysis programs, the WinIGS (Integrated Grounding System analysis and design), the GEMI (Grounding and ElectroMagnetic Interference) computer code, and the mGrid computer code – a methodology and implementation for precise analysis of multi-wire power systems with distributed energy resources. Dr. Meliopoulos has modernized many power system courses at Georgia Tech, introduced new courses, initiated the power system certificate program for practicing engineers and most importantly he has introduced visualization and animation methodologies that dramatically increase the teaching efficiency of complex power system concepts. Dr. Meliopoulos is a Fellow of the IEEE. He holds 3 patents, he has published three books, a chapter in the Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers and over 300 technical papers. He has received a number of awards, including the Sigma Xi Young Faculty award (1981), twice the outstanding Continuing Education Award, Georgia Institute of Technology (2002 and 2015), three of his papers have received the best paper award (IEEE-PES-SC-1984, IEEE-PES-EC-1987, and IEEE-CSS-HICSS 2002), he received the 2005 IEEE Richard Kaufman Award and the 2010 George Montefiore international award.
Electrical Engineering Seminar Series
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ARTS FIRST: Jazz on the Plaza
WHEN Fri., Apr. 29, 2016, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Science Center Plaza, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Concerts, Music, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Office for the Arts at Harvard and Board of Overseers of Harvard College
COST Admission free; tickets/RSVPs not required
CONTACT INFO 617-495-8676
DETAILS Kick off ARTS FIRST weekend with a free concert under the Plaza tent! New director of Jazz Ensembles Yosvany Terry, a Grammy-nominated saxophonist/composer, makes his ARTS FIRST debut leading the Harvard Jazz Bands. Special appearance by Tia Fuller, saxophonist and Berklee College of Music faculty member. Cash bar with beer and wine.
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Saturday, April 30
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The Power and Promise of Biodiversity
Saturday, April 30
9:00 AM
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Cost: $16.82 - $53.74
We will explore the interconnections of life forms we see around us in the New England landscape, seascape and beyond, and discover the origins of those relationships in the past. Human restoration of biodiversity can regenerate rich and abundant eco-systems - we know how and now is the time to start!
Our speakers are scientists, visionaries and practitioners. Their stories will illuminate ways in which many species working in partnership can, with our help, regenerate a robust community of life - and a livable climate. Join us for a day of hopeful and realistic planetary solutions.
Please pass the word, and bring a friend!
Additional Details and Registration at: http://bio4climate.org/harvard-2016
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MIT Clean Energy Prize Showcase & Award Ceremony
Saturday, April 30
12:00 PM
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join the MIT Clean Energy Prize on April 30th for the Grand Final Showcase & Award Ceremony. At the Showcase (12:00pm-2:00pm) you'll have an opportunity to meet this year's finalist teams in categories including Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Infrastructure & Resources. At the Award Ceremony (2:00pm-3:30pm) prizes will be announced for each track as well as the $100,000 Grand Prize Award. You'll also hear from our keynote speakers (to be announced)! Reception to follow with food and drink from 3:30pm-5:00pm.
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March & Rally in support of fossil fuel divestment in Somerville
Saturday, April 30
2pm
Rally in Davis Square, followed by march to City Hall
RSVP and updates at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1717044895178292/
As you probably know, the City of Somerville is currently invested in the fossil fuel industry. While Somerville works to lower its own emissions and take other measures to address climate change as a city, we are funding companies that spend billions of dollars funding climate change denial and lobbying against common sense efforts needed to reduce emissions. Not only that, our fossil fuel investments are almost certainly losing money
The campaign to divest Somerville from the fossil fuel industry has made a lot of progress over the last couple of years. We can win this fight, but *we need YOUR help* to get it over the line. Come out and show your support for fossil fuel divestment in Somerville!
More details will be forthcoming. Save the date!
Fossil Free Somerville http://www.fossilfreesomerville.org/
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Solving Transit and Traffic Problems in the Cambridge Corridor
Saturday, April 30
2pm - 5pm
Cambridge Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Please join us at the Cambridge Senior Center (806 Mass. Ave.) for presentations and group discussion on transit and traffic issues facing the City of Cambridge and neighboring communities. Confirmed speakers include:
Mayor E. Denise Simmons (City of Cambridge)
State Senator Pat Jehlen (2nd Middlesex District)
Councillor Dennis Carlone (City of Cambridge)
Councillor Jan Devereux (City of Cambridge)
Steven Miller (Livable Streets Alliance)
Ellin Reisner (Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership)
Rafael Mares (Conservation Law Foundation)
John Antanucci (MIT Transportaion Group)
Caroline Casey (T-Riders Union)
Concetta Paul (Save Our Section 8)
John Ratliff (Budget For All Coalition)
Kirstie Pecci (MassPIRG)
Elechi Kadete (Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association)
Jonathan King (Mass. Peace Action)
Mike Connolly, program chair (Cambridge Residents Alliance)
and more guests to be announced!
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Sunday, May 1
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CoOp DiscoTech Boston
Sunday, May 1
11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
SEIU, 26 West Street, 3rd Floor, Boston
A Co-op DiscoTech (shorthand for a Cooperative Economy Discovering Technology fair) is an event designed for people of all backgrounds and skill levels to learn about how technology can be used to support the growth of the cooperative economy – worker-owned cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, housing cooperatives, and more!
We’ll focus on creating welcoming spaces where a wide range of people (not just techies!) will feel welcome sharing and learning about each other’s experiences with cooperatives: worker-owned co-ops, consumer co-ops, housing co-ops, hybrid cooperatives, co-op support organizations … pretty much anything that has to do with the cooperative economy! We’re also inviting cooperative organizations, technologists, developers, and designers to come to the DiscoTech to learn, teach, sprint, hack, meet up, explore projects, and build community together.
We’ll dive in deep to understand worker cooperative tools, systems, and histories, through speakers, skillshares, workshops, and activities open to all. We’ll also get hands-on with tools and approaches that can strengthen worker, consumer, housing, and hybrid cooperatives. We’ll link existing co-ops, technologists, designers, and community organizers to strengthen our strategies and tools for a cooperative future!
More information soon!
Any questions? Want to get involved? Want to host your own CoOp DiscoTech?
Contact Katie at KLARTHUR at MIT.EDU
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Health Risks of Climate Change in Cambridge
Sunday, May 1
3-5:30pm
MIT, Building E25-117, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://bit.ly/22Q3Q1v
Join us in playing a role-playing game about the health risks of climate change in Cambridge! The MIT Science Impact Collaborative is working with the City of Cambridge to enhance the public understanding of health risks associated with climate change by hosting interactive workshops with various stakeholder groups throughout the city. You are invited to a workshop for Cambridge area environmentalists on Sunday, May 1st. You’ll be providing city officials valuable input into their planning processes to make Cambridge more resilient in the face of climate change.
Refreshments provided
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Monday, May 2
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Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action
Monday, May 2
11:30am to 1:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Helen Margetts (University of Oxford)
Abstract: How does the changing use of social media affect politics? In a recent book - Political Turbulence, Princeton University Press, 2016 - Helen Margetts and colleagues Peter John, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri show how social media are now inextricably intertwined with the political behaviour of ordinary citizens, and exert an unruly influence on the political world. As people go about their daily lives, they are invited to undertake 'tiny acts' of political participation (liking, sharing, tweeting, retweeting, following, uploading, viewing, signing and so on) which extend the ladder of participation at the lower end. These micro-donations of time and effort can scale up to large mobilizations – most fail, but some succeed rapidly and dramatically through a series of chain reactions. When deciding whether to participate, people are exposed to web-based social influence, such as social information about the participation of others, and visibility. Different types of people (personality types for example) have different responses to these forms of social influence. The book uses large-scale data and data science approaches including experimentation to explore how such dynamics inject turbulence into the political world, with mobilization characterized by instability, unpredictability and often unsustainability. The talk will discuss the implications of these findings both for political science research and the future of the modern state.
Bio: Helen Margetts is the Director of the OII, and Professor of Society and the Internet at Oxford. She is a political scientist specialising in digital era governance and politics, investigating political behaviour, digital government and government-citizen interactions in the age of the internet, social media and big data. She has published over a hundred books, articles and major research reports in this area, including Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action (with Peter John, scott Hale and Taha Yasseri, 2015); Paradoxes of Modernization (with Perri 6 and Christopher Hood, 2010); Digital Era Governance (with Patrick Dunleavy, 2006); and The Tools of Government in the Digital Age (with Christopher Hood, 2007). In 2003 she and Patrick Dunleavy won the ‘Political Scientists Making a Difference’ award from the UK Political Studies Association, in part for a series of policy reports on Government on the Internet for the UK National Audit Office (1999, 2002 and 2007), and she continues working to maximise the policy impact of her research. She sits on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government and is editor-in-chief of the journal Policy and Internet. She is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. From 2011- 2014 she held the ESRC professorial fellowship ‘The Internet, Political Science and Public policy: Re-examining Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Governance Interactions in the Digital Era’.
Professor Margetts joined the OII in 2004 from University College London where she was a Professor in Political Science and Director of the School of Public Policy. She began her career as a computer programmer and systems analyst with Rank Xerox after receiving her BSc in mathematics from the University of Bristol. She returned to studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1989, completing an MSc in Politics and Public Policy in 1990 and a PhD in Government in 1996. She worked as a researcher at LSE from 1991 to 1994 and a lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London from 1994 to 1999.
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - Christiane Jablonowski, Michigan
Monday, May 2
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar Series [MASS] is a student-run weekly seminar series. Topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Mondays in 54-915 from 12.00-1pm unless otherwise noted (term-time only). Talks are generally followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, postdocs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and postdocs certainly participate. 2015/2016 co-ordinators: Marianna Linz (mlinz@mit.edu) and John Agard (jvagard@mit.edu). mass@mit.edu reaches the list.
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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Energy Cooperation in China’s “One Belt One Road” Initiative
Monday, May 2
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard. Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
with Kaho Yu, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, HKS.
This series is presented by the Energy Technology Innovation Policy/Consortium for Energy Policy Research at the Kennedy School of Government. Lunch will be provided.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar Series
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
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The Psychological Lives of the Poor
Monday, May 2
2:30p–3:30p
MIT, Building 6-120, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Live webcast
Speaker: Sendhil Mullainathan
The D2P2 Lecture Series' inaugural talk will feature Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University), who will discuss "The Psychological Lives of the Poor," showcasing his research on scarcity and its impact on mental bandwidth and decision-making. The event is open to the general public and will be live webcast.
Professor Mullainathan is the co-author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, a book acclaimed by The Economist as "novel in its scope and ambition." In this book, Mullainathan and coauthor, Eldar Shafir, demonstrate that scarcity creates a similar psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. The dynamics of scarcity reveal why dieters find it hard to resist temptation, why students and busy executives mismanage their time, and why sugarcane farmers are smarter after harvest than before. Once we start thinking in terms of scarcity and the strategies it imposes, the problems of modern life come into sharper focus.
This lecture provides a new way of understanding why the poor stay poor and the busy stay busy, and it reveals not only how scarcity leads us astray but also how individuals and organizations can better manage scarcity for greater satisfaction and success.
D2P2: Data. Decisions. Public Policy.
The D2P2 Lectures feature leading academics and other experts who share knowledge derived from modern applied economics research to demonstrate how it can inform better public policy decision-making. Speakers will discuss their groundbreaking research and practice, and how it can be applied to improve people's lives.
Web site: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/d2p2
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): J-PAL, MIT Economics Department
For more information, contact:
6173247255
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Why is Pollution from U.S. Manufacturing Declining? The Roles of Trade, Regulation, Productivity, and Preferences
Monday, May 2
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building E52-532, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Joe Shapiro (Yale)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): International Seminar
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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After Ukraine, After Syria: What's Next?
Monday, May 2
3:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Andrei Kortunov
Focus On Russia lecture series
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Harlene Miller
617-258-6531
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One Plus One Equals One: Historical and Modern Perspectives on the Evolution of Eukaryotic Photosynthesis
WHEN Mon., May 2, 2016, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Biological Labs, Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) John Archibald, Dalhousie University
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS Plant Biology Initiative Special Lecture
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Womenomics and Economic Reconstruction: A View from Fukushima
WHEN Mon., May 2, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) The Honorable Masako Mori, Member, House of Councillors. Former Minister of State for Gender Equality, and former Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety
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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Thinking Fast Makes Changing Slow, Lydia Villa-Komaroff, MIT STS Morison Prize Lecture
Monday, May 2
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building E14, Winter Garden Room, and Lecture Room, 6th Floor, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Ph.D.
Morison Prize Lecture
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): HASTS
For more information, contact: Gus Zahariadis
617-253-3452
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Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Technology and Democracy
WHEN Mon., May 2, 2016, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Information Technology, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation
SPEAKER(S) 2015-16 Technology and Democracy fellows
Moderated by Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship, and Academic Dean, Harvard Kennedy School
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO maisie_obrien@hks.haravard.edu
DETAILS Join the 2015-16 Technology and Democracy fellows for a roundtable discussion on the future of civic tech, their work in and outside of the fellowship program, and the Technology and Democracy Fellowship.
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The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change
Monday, May 2
4:15 pm
Harvard, CGIS-S020, Belfer Case Study Room, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
The Energy History Project hosts Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics, who will discuss "The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change."
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Reflections on Emerging Microbial Threats
Monday, May 2
5:00 pm
MIT, Building 1-190, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Prof. James M. Hughes, Emory University School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health
Pre-lecture Reception: 4:30pm.
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Haiti: Voice, Gender and Representation in the Aftermath of Disaster
Monday, May 2
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 14E-304, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speakers: Kaiama L. Glover and Charles Forsdick
Professor Kaiama L. Glover (Barnard College)
Professor Glover joined the Barnard College faculty in 2002. Her teaching and research interests include francophone literature, particularly that of Haiti and the French Antilles; colonialism and postcolonialism; and sub-Saharan francophone African cinema.
Professor Charles Forsdick (University of Liverpool)
Charles Forsdick is James Barrow Professor of French at the University of Liverpool. He has published widely on travel writing, colonial history, postcolonial literature and the cultures of slavery. He is also a specialist on Haiti and the Haitian Revolution, and has written widely about representations of Toussaint Couverture.
MIT Global France Seminar
Web site: https://mitgsl.mit.edu/news-events/haiti-voice-gender-and-representation-aftermath-disaster
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): MIT Global Studies and Languages
For more information, contact: Lisa Hickler
617-452-2676
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Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
WHEN Mon., May 2, 2016, 5 p.m.
WHERE Minot Room, 5th Floor, Countway Library, 10 Shattuck Street, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
SPEAKER(S) James J. O’Connell, president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
CONTACT INFO elizabeth_egggleston@hms.harvard.edu
DETAILS Three decades ago, Jim O’Connell was fresh out of Harvard Medical School and on his way to a prestigious oncology fellowship at Sloan-Kettering. His mentor, a legendary Boston doctor-humanitarian, asked him to head up a new pilot medical program ̶ Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP).
O’Connell thought he’d put in a few years, then get back on track with his “real” career. But he fell in love with the challenges of homeless medicine, his patients and their stories. The stories are collected in a book, Stories from the Shadows.
Please join us to hear more from this internationally recognized leader in the field of homeless medicine.
Refreshments will be served
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ArtWeek Opening Reception Party
Monday, May 2
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
CIC Boston, 50 Milk Street, 17th and 18th Floors, Boston
To kick off our annual CIC Arts Week across our three Boston and Cambridge locations, join us for an evening of art, music, food, and drinks.
Our opening reception "pARTy" will showcase exhibits from esteemed local artists, including Adam O'Day, Felipe Ortiz, Luti Castro and Warren Croce. Join us for walking art tours, collaborative mural projects, live entertainment from Berklee musicians, and much more.
Be sure to come hungry! Our partners from Boston's leading food-tech community Branchfoodwill be providing tasty samples from a dozen local and innovative food startups on the 17th floor.
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Discovering Home: An Evening with the Silk Road Ensemble
WHEN Mon., May 2, 2016, 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Music, Special Events
COST Free and open to the public
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.eventbrite.com/e/discovering-home-an-evening-with-the-silk-road-ensemble-tickets-24627099317
DETAILS Join members of the Silk Road Ensemble for an evening of music, food, and exploring notions of home through distinct traditions and personal stories. Starting from a focus on Japan, these renowned musicians will reflect on their journeys and traditions and will explore the unexpected places and paths where Ensemble members—of Japanese origins and beyond--have found home.
The Silk Road Ensemble is in residence at Harvard University. Their new album, Sing Me Home, consciously explores what it means to be home through crossing cultural boundaries. The album was developed and recorded alongside the new documentary feature The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble from director Morgan Neville, following members of the Ensemble as they gather in locations across the world, exploring the ways art can both preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution. For more information, visit silkroadproject.org.
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The Mechanical Horse: How the Bicycle Reshaped American Life
Monday, May 2
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Margaret Guroff
With cities across the country adding miles of bike lanes and building bike-share stations, bicycling is enjoying a new surge of popularity in America. It seems that every generation or two, Americans rediscover the freedom of movement, convenience, and relative affordability of the bicycle. The earliest two-wheeler, the draisine, arrived in Philadelphia in 1819 and astonished onlookers with the possibility of propelling themselves "like lightning." Two centuries later, the bicycle is still the fastest way to cover ground on gridlocked city streets.
Filled with lively stories, The Mechanical Horse reveals how the bicycle transformed American life. As bicycling caught on in the nineteenth century, many of the country's rough, rutted roads were paved for the first time, laying a foundation for the interstate highway system. Cyclists were among the first to see the possibilities of self-directed, long-distance travel, and some of them (including a fellow named Henry Ford) went on to develop the automobile. Women shed their cumbersome Victorian dresses—as well as their restricted gender roles—so they could ride. And doctors recognized that aerobic exercise actually benefits the body, which helped to modernize medicine. Margaret Guroff demonstrates that the bicycle's story is really the story of a more mobile America—one in which physical mobility has opened wider horizons of thought and new opportunities for people in all avenues of life.
More information at (617) 661-1515 or info@harvard.com
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Tuesday, May 3
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Boston TechBreakfast: Paperflite, thoughtbot, MobileLeads LLC, and More!
Tuesday, May 3
8:00 AM
Northeastern University, Curry Student Center, Room 318-322, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Bagels & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
Paperflite: - Yegappan Kumarappan
thoughtbot: FormKeep - Matthew Sumner
MobileLeads LLC: MLeads - Manish Gorawala
*** OPEN ***
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words
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How "New" is the New National Front?: Mapping Out Marine Le Pen's Rhetorical Turn With Digital Humanities Software
Tuesday, May 3
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building 14E-304, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Cecile Alduy
Since taking over the National Front in 2011, Marine Le Pen has carried the far right party to first place in the polls. What does she say that resonates with French voters so strongly? Does voting Marine Le Pen today mean the same thing as voting Jean-Marie Le Pen yesterday?
Cecile Alduy is Associate Professor of French literature and culture and the Director of the French and Italian Department at Stanford University. Last year she published Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. D’cryptage du nouveau discours frontiste [Marine Le Pen Taken To Her Words. Decoding the New National Front Discourse] (Seuil, 2015).
Global France Seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): MIT Global Studies and Languages
For more information, contact: Lisa Hickler
617-452-2676
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Common Ground for Health: Precision, Personalized, and Social Medicine
WHEN Tue., May 3, 2016, 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Fay House, Sheerr Room, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Professors Linn Getz, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Bruce McEwen, of the Rockefeller University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS “Precision medicine” and “personalized medicine” are emerging medical models that promise to customize disease prevention and treatments based on individual variability in DNA and the molecular products of genes. “Social medicine” seeks to understand how social and economic conditions impact health and disease. With recent developments in epigenetics, this lecture will examine how these different paths contribute to health study and how the most fruitful work may occur at the intersection of these perspectives.
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Askwith Forum - Teens and Sex: Navigating from Shame and Regret to Integrity and Wellness
WHEN Tue., May 3, 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: Peggy Orenstein, Author, Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape and Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Moderator: Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Ed.M.’92, Ed.D.’95, Professor of Practice, HGSE
Discussants:
Justine Fonte, Director of Health & Wellness, The Dalton School, New York, NY
Richard Weissbourd, Ed.D.’87, Senior Lecturer on Education; Faculty Director, Human Development and Psychology Program; Co-Director, Making Caring Common, HGSE
In this forum Peggy Orenstein will discuss her New York Times best-selling book, Girls and Sex. Orenstein, a renowned journalist and the author of several books, including Cinderella Ate My Daughter, examines the ways in which porn and all its sexual myths have seeped into young people’s lives; why we need to redefine “virginity”; what we can learn from queer girls; the complicated terrain of hookup culture; and the unfortunate realities surrounding assault. Weissbourd and Fonte will engage with Orenstein in a discussion on how educators and parents can far more effectively guide both teen girls and boys in navigating this complex terrain. Audience Q&A will follow the panel discussion.
In conjunction with Making Caring Common and the HGSE Task Force on Sexual Assault and Harassment.
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TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking
Tuesday, May 3
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Cost: $5.00 - On Sale Now
Harvard Book Store welcomes the curator of the internationally famous TED Talks CHRIS ANDERSON for a discussion of his book TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking—an insider’s guide to creating talks that are unforgettable.
About TED Talks
Since taking over TED in the early 2000s, Chris Anderson has shown how carefully crafted short talks can be the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience’s worldview. Done right, a talk is more powerful than anything in written form.
This book explains how the miracle of powerful public speaking is achieved, and equips you to give it your best shot. There is no set formula; no two talks should be the same. The goal is for you to give the talk that only you can give. But don’t be intimidated. You may find it more natural than you think.
Chris Anderson has worked behind the scenes with all the TED speakers who have inspired us the most, and here he shares insights from such favorites as Sir Ken Robinson, Amy Cuddy, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Gilbert, Salman Khan, Dan Gilbert, Mary Roach, Matt Ridley, and dozens more—everything from how to craft your talk’s content to how you can be most effective on stage. This is the 21st-century’s new manual for truly effective communication and it is a must-read for anyone who is ready to create impact with their ideas.
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The Momentum towards Sustainability and Challenges Facing Youth
Tuesday, May 3
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe, 5th Floor One Broadway, Cambridge
Cost: $10 – $12
Not unlike generations before them, kids these days are growing up in a new reality. Lightening-speed connectivity and innovation are making life exciting and them aware of massive societal issues. Included in this mix is a large group of disadvantaged young people who have less to do with the natural world than ever before.
This month, our spotlight is on momentum toward ever-greater sustainability and the challenges kids face in a connected, yet changing and also distressed world. There will be a lot to learn from the truths and tensions of this topic and to take back to your own efforts in your communities, organizations and personal lives.
As a starting point for the evening, we’ve asked our speakers to touch on a few topics as they bring their experience and passion for sustainability and children to the BASG.
Authentic, meaningful and effective approaches for engaging children in sustainability
The role of policy at the federal or state level to advance sustainability education
Translating interest in sustainability to interest in a STEM career
Differences in momentum across regions, demographics and living environments
We are grateful to Eric Magers (Director of the Green Team and Green Scholars Programs in the Manchester-Essex Regional School District) and Dr. Ricky S. Stern, Founder and Executive Director of “e” inc., an environment science learning and action center, for leading this important conversation.
Dr. Ricky Stern
Ricky founded “e” inc. over 13 years ago with a mission of educating children, youth and their caregivers in our area about environment science, environmentally positive behavior, and how they can make a difference that can lead to a sustainable future. She and her team teach young people through standards-based science residencies that use hands-on experiences to demonstrate science ideas and actions. Their goal is to help children clearly grasp the science concepts of how our planet ‘works’ and what they can do today to make a difference. “e” inc. is active in 13 schools and 17 after-schools in 3 cities, this year reaching 7000 young people.
Eric Magers
Eric is a passionate sustainability educator and practitioner. Everything he does is about helping students in their quest of lifelong learning and collaborating with others to grow and improve local and national environmental education. Two cool highlights from Eric’s environmental advocacy career are receiving an honorable mention in 2014 from the EPA’s Gina McCarthy for the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators and winning the Alliance for Climate Education Teacher of the Year award in 2013, annually given to one teacher in the U.S.
We hope you’ll be able to join us, our speakers and our co-host CitySprouts for this important conversation. — Carol, Holly, Tilly.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 4
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Harvard SEAS [School of Engineering and Applied Sciences] Design & Project Fair
Student Events
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 (All day)
Harvard, Science Center Plaza Tent, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
We invite you to attend the annual showcase of SEAS undergraduate and graduate student demonstrations, presentations, and prototypes. See how our students at SEAS are applying their knowledge to solve real-world problems.
Meet us under the big white tent in the Science Center Plaza, and see what's new at SEAS this year!
Email: events@seas.harvard.edu
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Ghost Cities: the Role of Citizens and the Government
Wednesday, May 4
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Professor WOODWORTH Max
Max Woodworth is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the Ohio State University. He completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley on "Frontier Boomtown Urbanism," focusing on city building in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. His is currently researching China's lower-tier cities in the country's Inner Asian northern and western borderlands.
China Talk Series
In collaboration with the China Planning, Real Estate, and Architecture (China PRA) student organization, DUSP, CRE, and the STL Lab are organizing 2016 spring semester 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: Heather Mooney
617-715-2352
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The Politics of the Latino Vote: Immigration and the Run Up to 2016
WHEN Wed., May 4, 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 Humanities, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Tom Jawetz, Vice President of Immigration Policy, Center for American Progress; Josiane Martinez, Founder, Archipelago Strategies Group; Sophia Jordán Wallace, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University; and HKS Assistant Professor of Public Policy Leah Wright Rigueur
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Maisie O'Brien
DETAILS Following the defeat of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012, the Republican National Committee commissioned an "autopsy" report, which explicitly called for the party to champion comprehensive immigration reform. Though a bipartisan immigration bill passed in the Senate, it was never considered by the House of Representatives, and hopes for the passage of sweeping immigration reform legislation ultimately collapsed.
Leading 2016 GOP presidential contenders have largely taken a hard line on immigration, counter to the RNC's autopsy report recommendations. Panelists will explore why the GOP has eschewed comprehensive immigration reform in light of the RNC autopsy report, discuss immigration's role in the 2016 presidential race, and assess possible Latino voter response to the campaign's immigration rhetoric.
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Opportunities in Industrial Water treatment - by Prakash Govindan, CTO, Gradiant
Wednesday, May 4
4:30-5:30pm
MIT, Building 3-333, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Prakash is an alumnus of MIT, and the founder and CTO at Gradiant Corporation, a technology-driven water company aimed at solving the world’s most challenging water treatment problems. The company’s flagship technology - Carrier Gas Extraction (CGETM) - was field demonstrated in the Permian basin in 2013 and has since won the 'Industrial Water Project of the Year' at the Global Water Awards 2014. He will talk about his work in the company which currently has two full-scale operating plants for US oil field clients.
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Danny Hillis speaking on The Long Now and the 10-000-year Clock
Wednesday, May 4
7:00 PM
The Venture Cafe at the Cambridge Innovation Center, One Broadway, 5th Floor, Kendall Square, Cambridge
Cost: $15.00 /per person
Danny Hillis will be speaking on The Long Now Foundation and details of the Clock project, "a monument scale, multi-millennial, all mechanical clock created as an icon to long term thinking." See this page on the Long Now site for further information on the Clock Project: http://longnow.org/clock/.
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Planting in a Post-Wild World, a talk by Claudia West, co-author of "Planting in a Post-Wild World"
Wednesday, May 4
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
A free lecture by Claudia West presented by Grow Native Mas
Few wild places remain in today’s world, making it ever more important to bring ecological principles back into the design of our managed landscapes. Much more than simply using native plants, this work necessitates understanding plant communities and embracing a new form of design that marries horticulture with ecology. Join us as we translate the ecological principles of wild plant communities into design and management tools to inform our native plantings. Using the work of several European ecologists and planting designers, we explore the science behind stable and lasting plant combinations—to help you create the landscapes you envision.
Claudia West is the co-author with Thomas Rainer of Planting in a Post-Wild World, and the Ecological Sales Manager at North Creek Nurseries. She works closely with ecological design and restoration professionals throughout the northeast, focused on stable, layered planting designs and the extensive use of native plants.
Free and open to the public
Phone Number: 781-790-8921
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Thursday, May 5
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Modeling Contributions to CO2 Measured at a Site in Northern China (2005-2009)
Thursday, May 5
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Archana Dayalu, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
China Project Seminar
Contact Name:
Chris Nielsen
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An Economist's Take on Climate Change: The Paris Agreement and the Post-2020 World
Thursday, May 5
4:45p–5:45p
MIT, Building 1-190, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Robert Stavins
In this talk, Stavins will provide an economic perspective as he assesses the Paris Agreement, reached in December of 2015. He will review the previous 20 years of climate negotiations in order to place the Paris Agreement in its proper context. Drawing on research carried out by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, he will provide a detailed assessment of the new approach now being taken, looking both at the significant accomplishments of the Agreement, as well as the key challenges that remain. Particular attention will be given to the potential role of carbon pricing at the regional (EU), national, and sub-national levels, and the importance of international linkage among heterogeneous policies. Stavins will conclude with an examination of the institutional path ahead, both within the United Nations and outside of it.
IHS Seminar Series
Web site: http://mitei.mit.edu/stavins
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Rebecca Marshall-Howarth
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Virtual Reality Meets Documentary: A Deeper Look
Thursday, May 5
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Buidling 54-100, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
When Time Magazine graced its cover with Oculus Rift inventor Palmer Luckey's awkward pose, it effectively proclaimed that VR was "the next big thing" that didn't have any place in our lives yet. Google, Facebook, The New York Times, PBS Frontline, Sundance Film Institute and many others are investing heavily in virtual reality as a powerful new storytelling medium. It's capturing the imagination of documentary storytellers all over the world yet for all its enthusiasts, virtual reality has its skeptics. For all virtual reality is talked about, it can be deeply misunderstood.
The goal of this panel is to talk with some of the leading creators in the VR space and better understand VR's potentials and implications for documentary and journalism.
Speakers
Raney Aronson-Rath runs FRONTLINE, PBS's flagship investigative journalism series, and is a leading voice on the future of journalism. Katy Morrison is co-Founder and producer at Virtual Reality studio VRTOV. Nonny de la Pena was selected by Wired Magazine as a #MakeTechHuman Agent of Change and has been called "The Godmother of Virtual Reality". Caspar Sonnen is a festival organizer, including New Media Coordinator of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and curator specialised in independent cinema and digital media art.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
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Askwith Forum - Engineering Personalized Learning: The Story of Summit Schools and Facebook
WHEN Thu., May 5, 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
Speakers:
Mike Sego, Director of Engineering, Facebook
Diane Tavenner, Founder and CEO, Summit Public Schools
Moderator: Chris Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Technology, Innovation, and Education Program, HGSE
In the past few years, personalized learning has gone from concept to reality in the classroom. Schools across the country are customizing instruction to meet the needs, skills, and passions of their students — and teachers are leading the way. In this Askwith Forum, Tavenner and Sego will discuss how Summit teachers partnered with Facebook engineers to develop an online personalized learning platform and make it available to any school for free. Join us to hear how personalized learning is shifting teacher practice and encouraging students to take greater ownership of their learning, while building their leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Tavenner and Sego will also share the experiences of 29 schools, 4,800 students, and 270 teachers who are part of Summit and its Basecamp partnership program.
Networking reception with members of the Facebook product and engineering and Summit teams immediately following the forum.
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EnergyBar!
Thursday, May 5
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs' monthly networking event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Our attendees typically span a variety of disciplines within energy, efficiency, and renewables. In general, if you're looking for a job in cleantech or energy, trying to expand your network, or perhaps thinking about starting your own energy-related company this is the event for you. Expect to have conversations about issues facing advanced and renewable energy technologies and ways to solve our most pressing energy problems.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm. Suggested dress is shop floor casual. Parking is incredibly limited at Greentown Labs and we encourage attendees to consider taking advantage of public transportation.
Hope to see you there!
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Natural and Induced Earthquakes: The Hidden Threat to Large Cities in the United States
Thursday, May 5
6:00PM
Harvard, Geo Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
A number of large U.S. metropolitan areas face the threat of earthquakes. Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—all located near major active faults—are statistically likely to experience major earthquakes in the near future. Seismologists and engineers in these cities are already preparing for “the big ones” (earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 8.0). Now, metropolitan areas such as Dallas and Oklahoma City, although far from plate boundaries, are experiencing moderate, but frequent earthquakes induced by injecting oil and gas wastewater into the ground. Marine Denolle will discuss how scientists are applying new tools to predict and model earthquakes, so that cities can prepare more effective responses to these geological forces.
Free and open to the public
Contact Name: hmnh@hmsc.harvard.edu
(617) 495-3045
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RPP Colloquium: The Evolving Field of Religious Peacebuilding: Tanenbaum's Peacemakers in Action, Volume II
WHEN Thu., May 5, 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 Religious Literacy Project; 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 at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bKRWpvx9Sf63l6R
Joyce S. Dubensky, Esq., CEO, Tanenbaum.
Hind Kabawat, director of Interfaith Peacebuilding, George Mason University’s Center for World Religions Diplomacy & Conflict Resolution, and Tanenbaum Peacemaker in Action.
Tanenbaum CEO Joyce Dubensky and Tanenbaum’s Syrian Peacemaker Hind Kabawat will discuss Tanenbaum’s groundbreaking new book Peacemakers in Action: Profiles in Religious Peacebuilding Volume II. As a religiously-motivated peacemaker working in Syria and surrounding areas, Kabawat will share insights on the challenges and opportunities in religious peacebuilding. Dubensky will then explore the evolving field of religious peacebuilding and the individuals who make it their profession—including Tanenbaum Peacemakers, who so often work in violent conflicts and now collaborate through their Peacemakers Network for in-country interventions.
The event will be moderated by HDS Senior Lecturer on Religious Studies and Education Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project.
Co-sponsored by the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School. With generous support from the El-Hibri Foundation.
Recommended Readings
Short List
Tanenbaum, "Introduction." In Peacemakers in Action: Profiles in Religion and Conflict Resolution. Edited by David Little. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 3-21.
Hind Kabawat, The Syrian Revolution is Not a Holy War, article, Foreign Policy Magazine, online, March 9, 2016.
Huffington Post Articles: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hind-kabawat/
Hind Kabawat, Lingering Questions Surround Geneva III, article, The Huffington Post, online, Feb 12, 2016.
Hind Kabawat, Riyadh Conference: What Makes It Different?, article, The Huffington Post, online, December 16, 2015.
Further Reading
Tanenbaum, "Underground Woman: Sakena Yacoobi and the Afghan Institute of Learning, Afghanistan." In Peacemakers in Action: Profiles in Religion and Conflict Resolution. Edited by David Little. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 382-401.
David Little, "Religion, Violent Conflict, and Peacemaking." In Peacemakers in Action: Profiles in Religion and Conflict Resolution. Edited by David Little. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 429-448.
Tanenbaum's Combating Extremism resource that features Hind Kabawat:
Testimony at U.S. House Committee Hearing on the Islamic State and Religious Minorities: a resource sheet about Hind Kabawat
Hind Kabawat’s Full Testimony at the U.S. House Committee Hearing on the Islamic State and Religious Minorities
About this series: 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.
Join RPP’s mailing list and visit the RPP Initiative at http://rpp.hds.harvard.edu
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Friday, May 6
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Petrie-Flom Center's 2016 Annual Conference: Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics
WHEN Fri., May 6, 2016, 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East ABC, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Petrie-Flom Center, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and the Health Ethics and Policy Lab, University of Zurich
COST Free, but registration is required.
TICKET WEB LINK https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ebfvfftt068c7ee4&oseq=&c=&ch=
DETAILS
The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce our 2016 annual conference, entitled: “Big Data, Health Law, and Bioethics.”
“Big Data” is a phrase that has been used pervasively by the media and the lay public in the last several years. While many definitions are possible, the common denominator seems to include the “three V’s” – Volume (vast amounts of data), Variety (significant heterogeneity in the type of data available in the set), and Velocity (speed at which a data scientist or user can access and analyze the data).
Health care has become one of the key emerging use cases for big data. For example, Fitbit and Apple’s ResearchKit can provide researchers access to vast stores of biometric data on users from which to test hypotheses on nutrition, fitness, disease progression, treatment success, and the like.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have vast stores of billing data that can be mined to promote high value care and prevent fraud; the same is true of private health insurers. And hospitals have attempted to reduce re-admission rates by targeting patients that predictive algorithms indicate are at highest risk based on analysis of available data collected from existing patient records.
Underlying these and many other potential uses, however, are legal and ethical challenges relating to, among other things, privacy, discrimination, intellectual property, tort, and informed consent, as well as research and clinical ethics.
This conference, and anticipated edited volume, will aim to: (1) identify the various ways in which law and ethics intersect with the use of big data in health care and health research, particularly in the United States; (2) understand the way U.S. law (and potentially other legal systems) currently promotes or stands as an obstacle to these potential uses; (3) determine what might be learned from the legal and ethical treatment of uses of big data in other sectors and countries; and (4) examine potential solutions (industry best practices, common law, legislative, executive, domestic and international) for better use of big data in health care and health research in the U.S.
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The State of Hydropower Projects Today: Lessons from the Past for the Course Ahead
Friday, May 6
10:00a–4:30p
Hosted by the Displacement Research and Action Network the Workshop will bring together academics, international NGO and community group representatives as well as representatives of international institutions such as World Bank to discuss the State of Hydropower Projects Today.
Recent years have seen an upsurge of focus on and investment in large dam building for hydropower generation. However, issues related to the economic, social, and environmental consequences arising from large dams remain largely on the periphery. One of the consequences of this marginalization is the controversial and stagnant state of the basic framework of hydropower development. In 2000, the World Commission on Dams (WCD) launched a new framework for dam construction with safeguards based on the 'rights-and-risk approach'. These safeguard policies have had little to mixed effects on the implementation of large dam projects. Thus, there is an urgent need to create a platform where issues concerning the economic, environmental and social aspects of large dam projects are brought to the surface and discussed.
This workshop will bring together academics, NGOs, international organizations, experts and researchers to discuss a variety of issues including access to energy for all, benefit sharing, and mitigating social and environmental consequences of dam building.
Web site: http://mitdisplacement.org/
Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Tickets: Please RSVP
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Displacement Action and Research Network, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food and Security Lab, MISTI Brazil, Asia Foundation
For more information, contact: Aurora Bassett
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CarbonTracker-Lagrange: A Framework for Greenhouse Gas Flux Estimation at Regional to Continental Scales
Friday, May 6
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
with Arlyn Andrews, NOAA ESRL
Atmospheric Sciences Seminar
Contact Name: Joshua Benmergui
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From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America
Friday, May 6
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Elizabeth Hinton
In the United States today, one in every thirty-one adults is under some form of penal control, including one in eleven African American men. How did the “land of the free” become the home of the world’s largest prison system? Challenging the belief that America’s prison problem originated with the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs, Elizabeth Hinton traces the rise of mass incarceration to an ironic source: the social welfare programs of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society at the height of the civil rights era.
Johnson’s War on Poverty policies sought to foster equality and economic opportunity. But these initiatives were also rooted in widely shared assumptions about African Americans’ role in urban disorder, which prompted Johnson to call for a simultaneous War on Crime. The 1965 Law Enforcement Assistance Act empowered the national government to take a direct role in militarizing local police. Federal anticrime funding soon incentivized social service providers to ally with police departments, courts, and prisons. Under Richard Nixon and his successors, welfare programs fell by the wayside while investment in policing and punishment expanded. Anticipating future crime, policymakers urged states to build new prisons and introduced law enforcement measures into urban schools and public housing, turning neighborhoods into targets of police surveillance.
By the 1980s, crime control and incarceration dominated national responses to poverty and inequality. The initiatives of that decade were less a sharp departure than the full realization of the punitive transformation of urban policy implemented by Republicans and Democrats alike since the 1960s.
More Information at (617) 661-1515 or info@harvard.com
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D-Lab Spring Student Showcase & Open House
Friday, May 6
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building N51-310, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Spring D-Lab students from D-Lab: Design, D-Lab: Energy, D-Lab: WASH, D-Lab: Water and Climate Change, D-Lab: Education and Learning, Innovation in Relief, Recovery, and Rebuilding, and D-Lab: Earth will present their team projects. Presentation followed by a poster and prototype session. Snacks!
Web site: d-lab.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): D-Lab
For more information, contact: Nancy Adams
617 324-6197
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Saturday, May 7
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Wake Up the Earth Festival
Jamaica Plain
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International Drone Day
Saturday, May 7
11 - 6p.
Innovations and Design Bldg, 23 Drydock Avenue, Boston
Cost: $5
What Is It?
Drones have a bad reputation, and even though many of us call our Multi-rotors by different names, the public does associate our fantastic machines with the word drone. We are here to make sure that Drones are seen in a positive light.
The purpose of International Drone Day is to show the world that drones are good, and can be used for many good purposes. Movie making, search and rescue, police work, architecture, inspections, emergency response, and for just having fun.
Tickets
Tickets start at just $5.00 (plus EventBrite fees) and are only available online before the event. Supporter ticket packages are also available. We will NOT be selling tickets at the door so be sure to get yours today!
Get Tickets Now!
Help Spread The Word
Help spread the word about the event. Share this page with your friends, Tweet about it using #dronedayboston, and download the event flyer to post at your favorite hobby shop.
Join Our Mailing List
Enter your email and click Register
Something For Everyone
FAA pilot registration stations
AMA membership program
Virtual flight simulator
Safe flight education sessions
Micro drones
FPV racing
Hardware show and tell
Hobby shops
Product demonstrations
Door prizes
And more!
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Success: the only choice
WHEN Sat., May 7, 2016, 1 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Graduate School Of Education, Askwith Auditorium, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Conferences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Extension Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Association (HEEREA.com)
SPEAKER(S) Learn from engaging speakers and exchange your own ideas through discussion with students from across Harvard, distinguished faculty, Fortune 500 CEO's, self-made millionaires & from public service and private sectors.
COST Free and open to the public
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.eventbrite.com/e/success-the-only-choice-conference-series-2016-tickets-24449882256
DETAILS This will be a great opportunity to grow both entrepreneurship knowledge and your mindset as well as expand your professional networks.
Speakers will present in TED talks, panel discussions, and problem-solving scenarios. A pitch competition is also in the works!
Be sure to reserve your ticket before it's too late! We will cap attendance to facilitate group discussion.
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The Economics of Climate Change: 10 Years on from the Stern Review
Saturday, May 7
2:00p–3:15p
MIT, Building E52-164, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Nick Stern (London School of Economics)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Economics Special Events
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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Building a Business Community Institution to Fight Corruption
Saturday, May 7
3:15p–4:30p
MIT, Building E52-164, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Avinash Dixit (Princeton)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Economics Special Events
For more information, contact: economics calendar
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Monday, May 9
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BU Conference on Sustainability Research
Monday, May 9
8:30 am to 5:00 pm
Boston University Photonics Building, 8 St. Mary’s Street, 9th floor, Boston
A one-day conference featuring presentations by Boston University faculty on their research related to sustainability issues around the globe in four sessions:
Measuring Sustainability
Human Dimensions of Sustainability
Modeling Sustainability
Future Sustainability
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) - Isaac Held, Princeton
Monday, May 9
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Isaac Held (Princeton)
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar Series [MASS] is a student-run weekly seminar series. Topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Mondays in 54-915 from 12.00-1pm unless otherwise noted (term-time only). Talks are generally followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, postdocs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and postdocs certainly participate. 2015/2016 co-ordinators: Marianna Linz (mlinz@mit.edu) and John Agard (jvagard@mit.edu). mass@mit.edu reaches the list.
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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Is Islamophobia accelerating global warming?
Monday, May 9
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 2-105, 2 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Ghassan Hage
Ghassan Hage is the Future Generation Professor in the School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry, University of Melbourne
This talk examines the relation between Islamophobia as the dominant form of racism today and the ecological crisis. It looks at the three common ways in which the two phenomena are seen to be linked: as an entanglement of two crises, metaphorically related with one being a source of imagery for the other and both originating in colonial forms of capitalist accumulation. The talk proposes a fourth way of linking the two: an argument that they are both emanating from a similar mode of being, or enmeshment, in the world, what is referred to as "generalised domestication."
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): MIT Global Studies and Languages
For more information, contact: Lisa Hickler
617-452-2676
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Resilience, Climate, Race, and Relationships: One Journey. One Future. One...
Monday, May 9
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
Legal Harborside, 270 Northern Avenue, Boston
Cost: $16.29
77
Join Ceres, The Trust for Public Land, and The Nature Conservancy for a young professionals happy hour discussion about the resiliency challenges facing Boston and the opportunities we have to mitigate the impact of climate change in our city.
Dr. Atyia Martin, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Boston, will discuss the City’s resilience strategy and the critical link between resilience, race, and relationships as we work to address local climate challenges and opportunities as “One Boston."
Ceres, The Trust for Public Land, and The Nature Conservancy will discuss what each organization is doing to help meet these challenges and to make Boston a climate-smarter city.
For more information please contact Taylor O'Leary, oleary@ceres.org
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Tuesday, May 10
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Olin College of Engineering SCOPE SUMMIT 2016: Featuring Rocket Talks & Poster Sessions
Tuesday, May 10
9:30am - 3:30pm
Olin Way, Needham
The Senior Capstone Program in Engineering (SCOPE) invites you to join us as teams of seniors present results from their year-long, corporate-sponsored projects.
WHO SHOULD COME?
Current sponsors, interested companies, educators, community members and all those interested in igniting engineering education!
Schedule of Events
9:30 - 10:00 am Continental Breakfast and Registration, Milas Hall
10:00 - 10:15 am Welcome from Olin Leadership, Norden Auditorium, Milas Hall
10:15 - 11:15 am Rocket Talks by SCOPE Teams 1-7, Norden Auditorium, Milas Hall
11:15 - 11:30 am Break
11:30 - 12:30 pm Rocket Talks by SCOPE Teams 8-14, Norden Auditorium, Milas Hall
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch (no charge for guests)
1:30 - 2:30 pm Poster Session, tent in the Oval
2:30 - 3:30 pm Reception, tent in the Oval
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How Much Is One American Worth? A Lecture by Diana C. Mutz
WHEN Tue., May 10, 2016, 4:15 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Diana C. Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Communication and Political Science at the Annenberg School for Communication and the Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Economic globalization remains extremely controversial in the United States and elsewhere. Nonetheless, opinions do not fall along recognizable partisan lines. In her current research, Mutz uses surveys and experimental designs to explore the psychological, political, economic, and philosophical underpinnings of American attitudes toward globalization policies, such as international trade and outsourcing.
Mutz finds that trade attitudes have more to do with peoples’ attitudes toward the value of cooperation versus competition and on general sentiment toward citizens of other countries. This evidence highlights Americans’ differential valuation of human lives.
Register online.
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Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
Tuesday, May 10
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Harvard, Northwest Building Cafe, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Come mingle with faculty and friends of IACS while you learn about the cutting edge work of our master's and secondary field students!
Refreshments will be served.
RSVP to IACS Program Manager, Sheila Coveney at coveney@seas.harvard.edu
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Boston New Technology May 2016 Startup Showcase #BNT65
Tuesday, May 10
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
WeWork (South Station), 745 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
Come to our check-in desk in the lobby. Type the first few letters of your first or last name on the screen and once you see your name appear, tap on it to print your name tag. Then, take an elevator to the 8th floor.
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 Q&A.
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Changing America - Twenty Years of Democracy Now!
Tuesday, May 10
6.30 pm
First Parish, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Renowned journalist, Amy Goodman with her new book, "CHANGING AMERICA - TWENTY YEARS OF DEMOCRACY NOW!" Amy co-authored the book with Denis Moynihan, and her brother David Goodman. The event will mark the last in our current run of programs before we start planning our new schedule for the fall.
More information at http://www.cambridgeforum.org
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Opportunity
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Boston Area Gleaners is now accepting applications for the position of: Gleaning Coordinator. Please share widely amongst your networks! View the online job description at http://www.bostonareagleaners.org
Would you like to work outside with an organization committed to building a just and sustainable local food system? Join our growing team at Boston Area Gleaners as we build a supply chain of highly nutritious surplus produce gleaned from local farms to our region’s most vulnerable communities. A very high degree of accountability is required for this position, as farmers and hunger relief agencies alike depend on our service. Boston Area Gleaners is growing; a seasonal employee in good standing is a valuable asset, and may be eligible for permanent positions in the future.
Job Title: Seasonal Gleaning Coordinator
Status: Full-Time Seasonal, non-exempt
Time Period: June through December
Work Schedule: 40 hours per week, likely workdays are Friday through Tuesday
Compensation: $16-18/hr. (depending on experience) plus cell phone allowance
Benefits: 6 holidays (3 floating) and 3 PTO days
Duties: The Seasonal Gleaning Coordinator (SGC) organizes and executes gleaning trips for the organization. This includes: managing and directing volunteer crews to efficiently and safely harvest crops while ensuring product quality and integrity, coordinating details with staff at partner farms, collecting all gleaning related data, and assisting with distribution as needed. The SGC is an integral member of the BAG Operations Team and works closely with the Gleaning and Distribution Program Managers to execute BAG’s mission.
Job Requirements
Farming experience (two years or equivalent) including knowledge of harvesting, safe storage and handling of various fruit and vegetable crops.
Experience in supervising groups and/or managing volunteers and/or teaching.
Excellent driving record (preferred several years experience driving trucks in a variety of settings including farm fields, rural areas, and congested urban areas).
Ability to lift 50+ lbs. repeatedly.
Willingness and enjoyment of working outdoors in all types of New England weather (hot, cold, wet, etc.).
Basic technology skills – computer and smart phone competency.
Reliable transportation to Waltham office location.
Work Style Requirements
Excellent communication skills and ability to relate to farmers and volunteers.
Detail-oriented with excellent record keeping and planning skills.
Flexible but focused work style and ability to quickly adapt to changing situations in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to work effectively and efficiently in a small team (a good sense of humor is a must!)
Please send your resume and a cover letter explaining your interest and qualifications to Matt Crawford: coordinator@bostonareagleaners.org. References will be requested upon interview.
Interviews will take place ASAP. The position will remain open until filled.
Matt Crawford
Distribution Program Manager
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Boston Area Gleaners
Harvesting For the Hungry since 2004
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240 Beaver Street Waltham, MA 02452
(781) 894-3212 ext. 103
Editorial Comment: Boston Area Gleaners is another one of the Oakes Plympton has made to local agriculture.
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CLIMATE SMART BOSTON
Climate Smart Boston is about getting public input on vulnerabilities and resources related to climate readiness and resilience in the City of Boston and surrounding region in order to more fully inform to the Climate Ready Boston and Imagine Boston 2030 planning processes.
SIGN UP at https://communityplanit.org/bostonclimate/
Boston is striving to advance climate preparedness planning to produce resiliency initiatives that work together to address physical, social and environmental vulnerabilities in our communities. You can participate in this process and help shape the preparedness of the city in adapting to climate change. Boston is recognized as a world-class leader in climate resilience planning by the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative and was recognized at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference with an award for "Smart Cities and Smart Community Engagement" by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in Paris. Boston officials want to make sure the distinct needs of all neighborhoods are well understood as they plan to meet the climate challenges that will face our city in 2030 and beyond. Participate in Climate Smart Boston to play your part!
Three missions
Climate Smart Boston challenges you over three time-sensitive missions:
Mission 1: March 25 - April 1
Mission 2: April 1 - April 8
Mission 3: April 8 - April 15
Miss a mission? Don't worry, there's still plenty more to play!
This game has launched!
Sign up now, and get ready to plan your community! If you share this page with your friends, we'll get even more bright ideas on the table.
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The Summer of 2016 there will be a special issue of the journal Socialism and Democracy (http://sdonline.org/) on Energy Transition, with an emphasis on renewable energy, including wind, solar, and biomass.
We are looking for reviewers of one or more articles. We are also seeking people who could send us reviews of relevant books, for this issue.
Weimin Tchen
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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....
You can learn more about the MassCEC and the SolarizeMass program at: www.solarizemass.com .
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
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
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Hey Cambridge residents!
Did you know the City of Cambridge is trying to win the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize? It was created to develop a cleaner and more efficient energy future. Energy efficiency and conservation are the best ways to save energy and minimize environmental impact. In that effort, Cambridge is hoping all residents will get a no-cost energy assessment in order to make their homes more efficient and comfortable. Let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment
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
Again, let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment and someone will be in contact with you shortly to give you personally tailored contact information on how you can get your no-cost home energy assessment. Renters are also eligible!
Any action to save energy in the home will help Cambridge win this competition while protecting the environment. For additional ideas on how to save energy, please see the Cambridge Energy Alliance website at http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/interactivehome
Please share with your Cambridge friends and family and ask them to get a free energy assessment!
Want to be more involved? Become a neighborhood Block Captain! Block Captains help their community members sign up for and complete no-cost home energy assessments through the MassSave program. Our team will give you the tools and guidance needed to recruit neighbors to get an assessment and improve the efficiency of their homes. Participation is welcome at whatever level you are able to commit to.
If you are interested in becoming a Block Captain, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/blockcaptainsurvey and someone from the Cambridge Energy Alliance will be in contact with you shortly. If you know someone who might be interested, please let them know about this opportunity!
Questions? Contact jnahigian@cambridgema.gov
Cambridge Energy Alliance
@cambenergy
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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.
The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org
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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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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 - http://www.bnid.org/events
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.
Please feel free to email our organization at info@bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 27 and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
BASEN / Boston Solidarity Network Economy: http://ba-sen.tumblr.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 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
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
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
