Energy (and Other) Events - May 7, 2017

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) EventsGeo
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html

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Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index

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Index
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Monday, May 8
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4pm  Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global  Atmospheric Change
4pm  Why France fears Islam: Religion, Democracy and Human Rights in the Time of Elections
4:15pm  Tech & Democracy Ignites
5:30pm  Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
6:30pm  Living Off the Land on Mars
7:30pm  HOME SOLAR FORUM

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Tuesday May 9
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12pm  Conversations on Apollo with Michael Collins (Gemini X, Apollo 11)
1pm  Planetary Health: A broader framing of the climate/health discussion
1pm  Oceans and Ice: How Ocean Tides Influence Inland Ice Flow and What it Teaches Us About Ice Sheet Evolution
2pm  IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
3pm  Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
5pm  Askwith Forums: Education in a Diverse and Globalizing World
5:30pm  Achieving Energy Access under the Paris Agreement - Transformation of India’s Electricity Mix
6pm  authors@mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
6pm  CX in the Age of Innovation:  The Convergence of Digital & Physical
6pm  How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
7pm  Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick
7pm  Urban-Life Hacks: A Bazaar of Ideas

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Wednesday, May 10
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8:30am  Get Smaaht: Grid Modernization in Mass
8:30am  A Path to Zero?  The Role of Net Zero Energy Buildings in Boston
3:30pm  Using Data to Feed Short- and Long-Term Policy Dialogues on Air Quality in India
3:30pm  Applying the Tools of Materials Genomics to Address Charge-Transport Bottlenecks in Electrochemical Devices
4pm  “Oh My Heaven”: How Does Chinese Art Domesticate the Above?
7pm  Synthetic: How Life Got Made

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Thursday, May 11
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8am  LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop
8:30am  Emerging Trends Series: Offshore Wind
9am  Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium
9am  Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice 2017 Workshops
9:30am  New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML
12:15pm  Half-Measure Interventions in Theory and Syria
4pm  The spatial structure of biodiversity: theory, experiments, and synthesis
4pm  Inside Out: Visualizing chemical transformations and light-matter interactions with nanometer-scale resolution
5pm  From Taft to Trump: How Conservative Media Activists Won -- and Lost -- the GOP
5:30pm  Green Buildings Locally and Statewide
6pm  The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Natural World—and Us
7pm  Amazing Aquatic Athletes in the Anthropocene
7pm  Clean Energy Momentum:  Ranking State Progress - a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists

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Friday, May 12
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Bangladesh Sustainable Development Conference 2017 at Harvard University
9:30am  NE Machine Learning Day 2017
11am  Nobel Laureate Jean-Marie Lehn Distinguished Lecture
12pm  Soil Moisture and Plant Biomass Dynamics: Impact of Climate Change
12pm  Starr Forum: US & Mexico in the Trump Era
3pm  PSFC Seminar: High temperature superconductors: advantages and key challenges in their deployment for high-field magnets and large scale applications
4:30pm  Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Organic

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Saturday, May 13
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Green/Rainbow Party 2017 State Convention
10am  DIY Garden Structures
10am  City Natives Plant Sale
10am  Watch City Steampunk Festival
11am  Container Gardening

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Sunday, May 14
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6pm  JFK:  A Vision for America
7pm  Gravity Hill Newsreels: 12 Short Observations About Occupy Wall Street

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Monday, May 15
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8:30am  OpenSec 2017
12pm  Lisa Beal, RSMAS: U Miami 
1pm  Next in Science: Epidemiology
4pm  The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools - joint with IO
6pm  Access to Justice Through Technology
7pm  Hostage:  Guy Delisle in conversation with HILLARY L. CHUTE

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Tuesday, May 16
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8:30am  Women in Sustainability: Re-Forging the Status Quo
9:30am  MIPS Seminar:  Air Pollution and Brain Development:  Attributable Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders
10:30am  Billionaires Bash! "Celebrate" PRIM Support for Trump's Agenda!
11am  Massachusetts Clean Energy Day
12pm  Saving the Rainforest: A Personal Journey - Practical Approaches Chucanti, a Cloud Forest in Panama
1pm  Technology for Social Impact
5:30pm  Reimagining Refugee Solutions: An open house event with RefugePoint
6pm  Talk: Aki Sasamoto: Talk on Good Food
6pm  Dr. James O’Connell, author of Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
6:30pm  How Glaciers Affect Earth and Climate
7pm  JOHN HAY, FRIEND OF GIANTS 
7:30pm  Playsentations - 2.00b Toy Product Design Presentations

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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com

Greater Boston Tea Party Meeting
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/05/05/1659122/-Greater-Boston-Tea-Party-Meeting

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Monday, May 8
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Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global  Atmospheric Change
Monday, May 8
4:00 pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker:  Lisa Ainsworth, Associate Professor of Plant Biology, Adjunct Professor of Crop Sciences, USDA ARS Photosynthesis Reseach Unit, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

More information at http://environment.harvard.edu/future-food

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Why France fears Islam: Religion, Democracy and Human Rights in the Time of Elections
WHEN  Monday, May 8, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, CMES, Room 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Religion, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S)  Jocelyne Cesari, Professor of Religion and Politics, Department of Theology and Religion, Director of Research, Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, University of Birmingham
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Jocelyne Cesari is Professor of Religion and Politics, and Director of the Cadbury Centre at the University of Birmingham. She is also Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center where she directs the ‘Islam in World Politics’ program. She also teaches on contemporary Islam at Harvard Divinity School and directs the Harvard interfaculty program ‘Islam in the West’. Professor Cesari's research focuses on religion and international politics, Islam and globalization, Islam and secularism, immigration, and religious pluralism. Her most recent book, "The Islamic Awakening: Religion, Democracy and Modernity" (Cambridge University Press, 2014), is based on three years research on state-Islam relations in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Tunisia, conducted when she held the Minerva Chair at the US National War College (2011-2012). Her book "When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States" (2006) is a standard reference text in the study of European Islam and integration of Muslim minorities in secular democracies, and her other recent books include: "Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Islam in Western Liberal Democracies" (2013). Prof Cesari coordinates two major web resources on Islam and politics: Islamopedia Online and Euro-Islam.info.
CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
LINK  https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/why-france-fears-islam-religion-democracy-and-human-rights-time-elections?admin_panel=1

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Tech & Democracy Ignites
WHEN  Monday, May 8, 2017, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, The Ash Center, Suite 200N, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S)  Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science Jim Waldo, Academic Dean Archon Fung, and Director of Digital HKS and Lecturer in Public Policy David Eaves. Ignite talk presenters include: Leah Bannon, Product Lead, 18F, Tech and democracy fellow; Trevor Davis, CTO People’s Action, Founder and CEO of ToSomeone, Tech and democracy fellow; Dhrumil Mehta, Database Journalist at FiveThirtyEight,Tech and democracy fellow; Betsy Ribble, MPP’17, HKS; Rajan Trivedi, MPP’17, HKS; Zach Markin, Manager, Civic Analytics Network, Ash Center.
COST  Free
DETAILS  Join us for a series of high-energy, fast-paced Ignite talks featuring the Ash Center’s Technology and Democracy Fellows, HKS students and staff, and Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science Jim Waldo. Academic Dean Archon Fung will introduce the evening and Director of Digital HKS and Lecturer in Public Policy David Eaves will emcee.
A reception to celebrate technology and democracy programs and research at HKS will follow the talks. Come eat, drink, and explore the promises and pitfalls of using technology to innovate in civic and public spaces.
LINK https://ash.harvard.edu/event/technology-and-democracy-fellows-year-end-event?admin_panel=1

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Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
Monday, May 8
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin, Ground Floor Lobby, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewTgXiJxJPckkaS3wH8QodQ_8DXZd6fjvP3B3-cec3Y0OkKw/viewform?c=0&w=1

Come mingle with faculty and friends of the IACS while you learn about the cutting edge work of our master's and secondary field students!

Light refreshments will be served.

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Living Off the Land on Mars
Monday, May 8
6:30pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville

Jeff Hoffman 
This week’s event features Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, a professor in MIT’s Aeronautics and Astronautics Department. As a NASA astronaut from 1978 to 1997, Dr. Hoffman made five space flights, becoming the first astronaut to log 1000 hours of flight time aboard the Space Shuttle. He has performed four spacewalks, including the first unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA’s history and the initial repair/rescue mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Hoffman has helped develop and carry out tests of advanced high-pressure space suit designs, as well as new tools and procedures needed for the assembly of the International Space Station.

Following his astronaut career, Dr. Hoffman joined the MIT faculty, where he teaches courses on space operations and space systems design. His primary research interests are in improving the technology of space suits and designing innovative space systems for human and robotic space exploration. He is the Deputy Principal Investigator of an experiment on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, which will for the first time produce oxygen from extraterrestrial material, a critical step in the future of human space exploration. In 2007, Dr. Hoffman was elected to the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.  

More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/

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HOME SOLAR FORUM
Monday, May 8
7:30 PM
Temple Beth Elohim, 10 Bethel Road, Wellesley
RSVP at https://goo.gl/forms/GW0bp3lFOyAt78TT2 or email rcbc@acm.org

Help keep Earth livable! 

Learn about:
Temple Beth Elohim members with home solar
Options for solar power for your home, whether you own or rent.
How to find the best solar deals
Why you should go solar in 2017
Online tracking of home solar and TBE's new solar system.
The forum is FREE, but you must RSVP if you plan to attend. 
RSVP here: https://goo.gl/forms/GW0bp3lFOyAt78TT2 or email rcbc@acm.org

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Tuesday May 9
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Conversations on Apollo with Michael Collins (Gemini X, Apollo 11)
Tuesday, May 9
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vasssar Street, Cambridge

Astronaut Michael Collins lecturing on Gemini X and Apollo 11

Open to: the general public
Cost: free 
Sponsor(s): AeroAstro
For more information, contact:  Bill Litant
617-253-1564
wlitant@mit.edu 

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Planetary Health: A broader framing of the climate/health discussion
WHEN  Tuesday, May 9, 2017, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Medical School, Cannon Room, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Global Health Institute, Planetary Health Alliance
SPEAKER(S)  Dr Samuel Myers, Director of the Planetary Health Alliance
CONTACT INFO Andrew Iliff  andrew_iliff@harvard.edu  6174351848
DETAILS  We hope you can join us for our upcoming Climate Change and Global Health Seminar, co-hosted by the Planetary Health Alliance, on Tuesday, May 9, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. featuring Samuel Myers, M.D., M.P.H. speaking on "Planetary Health: A broader framing of the climate/health discussion." This seminar will be taking place in the Cannon Room, at the Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Ave., Boston. Lunch will be provided.
LINK https://fs6.formsite.com/harvardhigh/form154/index.html

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Oceans and Ice: How Ocean Tides Influence Inland Ice Flow and What it Teaches Us About Ice Sheet Evolution 
Tuesday, May 9
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge

Speaker: Brent Minchew, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, British Antarctic Survey
Oceans play an important role in the long-term evolution of ice sheets and drive much of the recent shrinkage in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Our understanding of ice-ocean interactions is limited because both the forcing from the oceans and the response of the ice sheets are complex, involving poorly understood processes that play out over timescales that can be difficult to observe. 

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact:  Brandon Milardo
617-253-2127
eapsweb@gmail.com 
https://eapsweb.mit.edu/special-seminar-brent-minchew-british-antarctic-survey

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IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
Tuesday, May 9
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building N52-399, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Pratap Bose
Join us for a design conversation with Pratap Bose, head of design for Tata Motors.

Design Conversation 
The IDC hosts prominent figures from industry to offer thoughts on interdisciplinary design themes. These talks foster an ongoing and Institute-wide discourse on the evolving nature of the processes, tools and outcomes of design.

Web site: http://idc.mit.edu/events/
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0 
Tickets: n/a 
Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Centre
For more information, contact:  Deb Payson
617-324-8125
debp@mit.edu 

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Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
Tuesday, May 9
3:00PM TO 4:00PM
MIT, Building 4-231, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge

16 of the last 17 years were the hottest on record. It is likely Ory Zik's 2018 presentation will start with "17 of the last 18 years were the hottest on record". The world is in the midst of a climate crisis. At the same time, essential policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, clean power plan, CAFE regulations) are either dead or dying. The market must step-in and act. Consumers and investors must hold companies and policymakers accountable. The oxygen of markets is metrics and the climate metric is carbon footprint. So why is it that we are so ‘carbon illiterate’? Why is it that nearly no-one knows the carbon footprint of anything? and what can we do to fix this situation?

A necessary condition is quantitative thinking -- not adjectives and anecdotes like ‘renewable’ and ‘sustainable’ -- but metrics rooted in data and science. 

Greenometry is a new social enterprise whose mission is to readily communicate the carbon footprint of everything. Consistent, accurate, and simple metrics are a necessary condition for behavior change. Greenometry's approach combines behavioral aspects, data, and simple physics. Carbon footprinting should be geospatially tuned and harmonize water and land into a simple unifying metric.

Zik's talk will present the foundations of his thinking, the overall platform that will enable ubiquitous carbon footprinting, and specific results on scope 2 emissions, the inclusion of water, and the carbon footprint of solar energy.

Biography
Award-winning physicist, entrepreneur, and environmentalist, Ory Zik founded Greenometry, a non-profit dedicated to quantifying the climate crisis with ‘numbers not adjectives’. Formerly founder/CEO of Heliofocus and CEO of Energy Points, Zik is the founder of Greenpeace Israel and was the curator of Israel’s national Science Museum.

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Askwith Forums: Education in a Diverse and Globalizing World
WHEN  Tuesday, May 9, 2017, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HGSE
SPEAKER(S)  Panelists:
Roger Brooks, president and CEO, Facing History and Ourselves
Maureen Costello, director, Teaching Tolerance, Southern Poverty Law Center
Stephanie Jones, Marie and Max Kargman Associate Professor in Human Development and Urban Education Advancement, HGSE
James E. Ryan, dean and Charles William Eliot Professor, HGSE
Moderator: Fernando Reimers, Ed.M.’84, Ed.D.’88, Ford Foundation Professor of Practice, director, International Education Policy Program and Global Education Innovation Initiative, HGSE
COST  This event is free and open to the public. Please note that seating at Askwith Forums is on a first come, first seated basis.
CONTACT INFO askwith_forums@gse.harvard.edu
DETAILS  This Askwith Forum, organized in partnership with HGSE’s Global Education Innovation Initiative, will discuss how schools are preparing students to work with others from different racial and cultural backgrounds. The panel will also address some of the challenges, created by intolerant groups, that educators face in advancing the democratic mission of education.
This forum is held in conjunction with the Global Education Innovation Initiative conference, Educating Students for a Diverse and Rapidly Changing World.
LINK http://www.gse.harvard.edu/calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D123314596

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Achieving Energy Access under the Paris Agreement - Transformation of India’s Electricity Mix
Tuesday, May 9 
5:30 PM 
MIT, Building E18-304, 400 Main Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1Hh1Y9_76hgibH3316BrspcXpzB31FUpjbnpmA76HDnCr8w/viewform?c=0&w=1

Vikas Mehta, Growald Family Fund
How are countries like India enhancing energy access, while limiting emissions, and can they succeed in the long run?

Speaker Bio:  Vikas Mehta manages new portfolio development, impact reporting, capacity development and global field building initiatives for the Growald Family Fund. He has 16 years of experience in impact investment and program management with international nonprofits in Asia and Africa, working across clean energy, agriculture and ICT projects. He holds a Master’s degree in International Business from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Delhi University, India.

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authors@mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
Tuesday, May 9
6:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Steven Sloman, Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University, in conversation with Drazen Prelec, Professor of Management Science and Economics at MIT's Sloan School of Management, discussing Steven Sloman's new book, "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone," at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, May 9, at the Bookstore. 

The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. In "The Knowledge Illusion," cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. 

This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/steven-sloman-in-discussion-with-drazen-prelec-the-knowledge-illusion-tickets-31725158804
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): The MIT Press Bookstore
For more information, contact:  The MIT Press Bookstore
253-5249
books@mit.edu 

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CX in the Age of Innovation:  The Convergence of Digital & Physical
Tuesday, May 9 
6:00pm 
Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive Floor 1, Cambridge
RSVP at https://ascentb2bitforumcx.splashthat.com
Customer experience (CX) is a top priority for businesses worldwide and more critical than ever. More than 50 percent of organizations will redirect their investments to CX innovations by 2018, according to Gartner. Considering that an estimated $1.6 trillion is lost as a result of poor service, no company is exempt from offering an exceptional customer journey.

While digital customer engagement is part of the new world order, physical engagement - old-school face-to-face interactions - remain highly relevant as well. Even in this tech-centric age, Accenture research finds that human interaction remains a vital component of customer satisfaction. However, it can be argued that innovations like live video chat, facilitating a real-time connection between a brand and a customer, represent physical engagement - and this is where the lines blur. Is the convergence of the physical and digital worlds the endgame in innovative engagement and CX?

Join us as we explore today's changing CX landscape - a world where excellent customer experience is driven by a company’s ability to engage with its customers, both online and off, to create an emotional connection between the customer and brand. How are forward-thinking businesses leveraging innovation to drive CX? Is direct physical interaction a thing of the past or do consumers prefer dealing with human beings? What challenges are presented as a result of the new world order? We will dive into these questions and more at our next B2B IT Forum on May 9, 2017, at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served

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How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
Tuesday, May 9
6-8pm
Boston Public Library, Copley Square in Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forums-on-the-future-tickets-32636238869

Alex Krieger, Moderator, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Dr. Robert A. Brown, Boston University
Dr. Pam Y. Eddinger, Bunker Hill Community College
Dr. Zorica Pantić, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dr. Lee Pelton, Emerson College
Dr. Valerie Roberson, Roxbury Community College

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Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick
Tuesday, May 9
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge

Valiant Ambition
A surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution, and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. In September 1776, the vulnerable Continental Army under an unsure George Washington (who had never commanded a large force in battle) evacuates New York after a devastating defeat by the British Army. Three weeks later, near the Canadian border, one of his favorite generals, Benedict Arnold, miraculously succeeds in postponing the British naval advance down Lake Champlain that might have ended the war. Four years later, as the book ends, Washington has vanquished his demons and Arnold has fled to the enemy after a foiled attempt to surrender the American fortress at West Point to the British. After four years of war, America is forced to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from within.

About the Author
Nathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a member of the Philbrick literary family. He won the year 2000 National Book Award for his maritime history, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship.
http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com

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Urban-Life Hacks: A Bazaar of Ideas
Tuesday, May 9
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
MIT, Lobby 13, 105 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge

You are warmly invited to join us as Terrascope students display and explain appropriate-technology designs for making cities more sustainable.

STUDENT PROJECTS INCLUDE:
A high-volume, easy-to-use bike rack for use on city buses
Adobe-brick formulas that incorporate plastic and other items from the waste stream as strengtheners
A small-scale wind turbine suitable that can be easily disassembled and packed into a shipable kit
Visitors are welcome anytime between 7:00 and 10:00pm – refreshments will be served!

MIT Terrascope
Phone:  617-253-4074
Email:  terraofc@mit.edu

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Wednesday, May 10
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Get Smaaht: Grid Modernization in Mass
Wed, May 10, 2017
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 16th Floor, "Edison Room,” Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-smaaht-grid-modernization-in-mass-tickets-33395921099
Cost:  $45 – $65

Join us for a trip into the future. Learn about the electric grid that we see today and opportunities for investment on both the wires’ side and buildings’ side. Where is development is needed, planned, and in process? How do grid modernization technologies stack up against each other? How do smart buildings (green buildings) fit into the grid of the future and what opportunities might there be with time of use metering, energy storage financing, and data management?

Let's talk about electric vehicles and the demand / support that they can provide with a smart grid. How is this energy industry transforming? Is analytics as a service going to be a communication with office managers and facility staff or will a cloud-based service possibly control our building? Will batteries be used to level loads on stressed electricity feeders?

How does what we do in Massachusetts compare to progress in other states? California, Texas and Illinois have the lead but what might happen in MA to make our grid the pacesetter?

This is part of our Market Leadership Series where we encourage the professional in the room to drive the conversation and share their questions and perspective for a robust session.

Advisement: This conversation will be led by Chapter member Ben Pignatelli from the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). Ben's presentation will not reflect the views of the DPU nor will he be able to speak on behalf of the Department. His presentation will outline publically available information and the science supporting it.

About the Speaker - Ben Pignatelli:
As a technical staff member in the Electric Power Division at the DPU Ben works on regulatory and market issues associated with energy efficiency, grid modernization, and competitive electricity supply. He has evaluated the MassSave program, is reviewing public utility grid modernization plans, and reviews municipal electricity aggregation plans. Ben also manages regulatory relations with electricity supply companies through investigations, licensing, and market animation initiatives. He has held previous roles with the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the City of Boston. Ben is a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) and holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire in Political Science.

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A Path to Zero?  The Role of Net Zero Energy Buildings in Boston
Wednesday, May 10
8:30am - 11:30pm
Boston Medical Center, 670 Albany Street, Albany Auditorium, Boston
RSVP to discussion at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1ovzdz683bbbd2&llr=i7ljcybab
RSVP to building tour http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1p243wd1e51dac&llr=i7ljcybab

Please join A Better City on Wednesday, May 10 at Boston Medical Center for a panel discussion and building tour focused on achieving net zero energy in Boston's commercial real estate buildings!

The first part of this event (8:30-10:45) will consist of a panel discussion about the viability of and pathway towards NZE buildings. Speakers will include experts with first-hand experience in getting to net zero:
John Dalzell (moderator), Senior Architect for Sustainable Development at the Boston Planning & Development Authority
Jill Kaehler, Project Leader & Lead Designer at Behnisch Architekten
Seth Federspiel, Net Zero Energy Planner for the City of Cambridge
Jacob Knowles, Director of Sustainable Design at BR+A Consulting Engineers
Bob Biggio, Senior Vice President of Facilities & Support Services at Boston Medical Center

Afterwards (10:45-11:30), a small group will have the opportunity to tour Boston Medical Center. In 2018, BMC expects to be carbon neutral through a combination of: a newly unveiled co-generation plant; a campus redesign that shrunk the campus' footprint by 400,000 sq ft, saving the campus an estimated $25 million annually on energy and operating costs; a series of HVAC upgrades that reduced emissions 20%; a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Eversource Energy to maximize and partner on energy efficiency upgrades in 2015; and signing on to the A Better City-facilitated collaborative renewable power procurement in 2016 to cover 100% of its electricity usage.

Please note that as spaces are limited for the building tour, separate registration is required for each portion of the event.

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Using Data to Feed Short- and Long-Term Policy Dialogues on Air Quality in India
Wednesday, May 10
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Sarath Guttikinda, Affiliate Associate Research Professor, Desert Research Institute; Founder/Director of UrbanEmissions.Info
Seminar Abstract: Traditionally, air quality management is based on a “top-down approach” with data coming from a wide network of reliable, representative, and continuous monitoring stations. In India, continuous monitoring capabilities and information dissemination platforms are limited and under-developed; they require a complete overhaul, in order to reach the level of transparency and accuracy required for implementing an air quality and health alert system. As we are waiting for the top-down capacity to continue to develop, the trends of the data collected present a deteriorating picture of air quality and public health. For example, recent comparative studies have highlighted Delhi as the city with the worst air quality in the world, with the number of districts not complying with the national annual ambient standard for PM2.5 increasing from 40% to 60% between 1998 and 2014. The comparisons, however, are not justified because there is a lack of reliable (and sufficient) monitoring data from cities other than Delhi –there could be cities in India whose situation is as bad as Delhi’s that we do not know of yet. We urgently need to disseminate air quality information in some form now, so as to check the pollution loads in regions with limited to no monitoring.

We built two public portals, http://www.indiaairquality.info and http://www.delhiairquality.info, to support air quality information collation and dissemination in India and Delhi, using a “bottom-up” approach with forward linkages to data coming from the monitoring stations to validate, calibrate, and authenticate, as much as possible. The modeling concept is not new in this field. Similar systems are in place in the U.S., E.U., and some Asian cities. The program utilizes state-of-the art meteorology and dispersion modeling platforms, with improved and dynamic emission feeds (estimated based on local surveys, measurements, and satellite feeds, as and when the data is available), and disseminates air quality forecasts for the next 3 days, at the district level in India and at 1-km resolution for Delhi, including hour-by-hour and day-by-day assessment of likely source contributions.

This presentation will focus on delivering an overview of these public portals, data feeds, and policy linkages for short- and long-term air quality management planning for Indian cities.

Speaker Bio: http://www.dri.edu/directory/4902-sarath-guttikunda

China Project Seminar 
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/event/guttikunda170510

Contact Name:  Tiffany Chan
tiffanychan@seas.harvard.edu

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Applying the Tools of Materials Genomics to Address Charge-Transport Bottlenecks in Electrochemical Devices
Wednesday, May 10
3:30p–4:45p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

MIT Program in Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM) Seminar Series 
PPSM sponsors a series of seminars covering a broad range of topics of general interest to the polymer community, featuring speakers from both on and off campus. We invite the polymer community at MIT and elsewhere to participate. For further information, contact Professor Jeremiah Johnson at jaj2109@mit.edu. All talks take place on Wednesdays. 

If you would like to receive Tuesday and Wednesday email announcements of the next upcoming PPSM seminar, please email your request including your email address to: 
ppst-www@mit.edu

SEMINAR 3:30 PM * REFRESHMENTS 3:00 PM

Web site: http://polymerscience.mit.edu/?page_id=3180
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE 
Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM)
For more information, contact:  Gregory Sands
(617) 253-0949
ppsm-www@mit.edu 

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“Oh My Heaven”: How Does Chinese Art Domesticate the Above?
WHEN  Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Eugene Y. Wang, 2016–2017 Shutzer Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS  In this talk, Wang will uncover how heaven is differently imagined in traditional Chinese art by asking why heaven often appears in unexpected places such as tombs and caves and why going up often involves going down. Wang seeks to answer questions related to the Chinese primacy of temporality. Is heaven more of a spatial concept or temporal one in Chinese artistic imagination? Can we imagine heaven, as the traditional Chinese did, as a rotating wheel rather than stable region? What is the cognitive mechanism of heaven sightings in earthly omens? Why is the notion of heaven as the apocalyptic vision relatively alien to the Chinese habit of thought?
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-eugene-y-wang-fellow-presentation

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Synthetic: How Life Got Made
Wednesday, May 10
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harvard-faculty-author-series-sophia-roosth-tickets-33779703001

Cultural anthropologist Sophia Roosth reveals how synthetic biologists make new living things in order to understand better how life works. The first book-length ethnographic study of this discipline, Syntheticdocuments the social, cultural, rhetorical, economic, and imaginative transformations biology has undergone in the post-genomic age.

About the Author:
Sophia Roosth is the Frederick S. Danziger Associate Professor for history of science at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first century life sciences, examining how biology is changing at a moment when researchers build new biological systems in order to investigate how biology works.

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Thursday, May 11
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LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop
Thursday, May 11
8:00a–5:30p
MIT, Building E14-648, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

The LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop is a two-day event (May 11-12, 2017) showcasing current work and emerging research opportunities at the intersection of smart services and urban infrastructure systems. It will feature top researchers from academia, industry, and government in a series of keynote talks and panel discussions.

Web site: https://lidssmart2017.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
For more information, contact:  Jennifer Donovan
jdonovan@mit.edu 

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Emerging Trends Series: Offshore Wind
Thursday, May 11
8:30 AM – 11:00 AM EDT
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emerging-trends-series-offshore-wind-tickets-32637113485

After decades of speculation about offshore wind’s future in the United States, the industry that has long powered grids in Europe has finally arrived in the Northeast. In the last year America’s first offshore wind project--off the coast of Rhode Island--started spinning and delivering power to the grid, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a bill authorizing the procurement of 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo committed to 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind off the coast of New York by 2030. Meanwhile, major utilities have announced agreements with developers to purchase energy generated from the projects planned for the eastern seaboard.
Join NECEC— the premier voice of businesses building a world-class clean energy hub in the Northeast—and Foley Hoag’s Energy and Cleantech practice for a not-to-be-missed discussion with offshore wind developers, leading public officials, investors and experts at the cutting edge of the Northeast’s emerging offshore wind market.
Speakers located in Boston will include:
Lars Thaaning Pederson, Co CEO, Copenhagen Offshore Partners 
Thomas Brostrøm, General Manager North America, Wind Power, DONG Energy 
Stephen Pike, CEO, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
Alicia Barton, Counsel, Foley Hoag (moderator)
Speakers located in New York will include:
Doreen M. Harris, Director, Large-Scale Renewables, NYSERDA
Clint Plummer, Vice President, Deepwater Wind 
Derek Stilwell, Commercial Leader – North America, GE Renewable Energy
Peter Rothstein, President, NECEC (moderator)

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Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium
Thursday, May 11
9:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building W-1, 305 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

The Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium will showcase the ongoing MIT research aimed at creating solutions to the social and environmental challenges most relevant to metals and minerals.

Web site: metalsandminerals.mit.edu/symposium
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
This event occurs daily through May 12, 2017.
Sponsor(s): Environmental Solutions Initiative
For more information, contact:  Suzanne Greene
6177155473
segreene@mit.edu 

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Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice 2017 Workshops
Thursday, May 11
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM EDT
BU, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forgiveness-reconciliation-and-restorative-justice-2017-workshops-tickets-33323627868
$0 – $25

"Putting in Place the Skills of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice"
Keynote Speaker: Fr. Leonel Narváez
Fr. Leonel Narváez Gomez worked for 10 years in East Africa and 10 years in Caguan and Putumayo, where he participated in the negotiations with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). He has received many honors and is founder-president of the Foundation for Reconciliation, an institution that has been recognized with peace prizes as UNESCO Education for Peace Award 2006 and the Order of Democracy 2007 granted by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia.

Tickets
$25 General Public
$10 Students/Low Income
Free with BU-ID

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New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML
Thursday, May 11
9:30 AM – 7:00 PM EDT
Microsoft New England R&D, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Join us for hacking the biases, discrimination, and fairness in machine learning, algorithms, big data analytics! Our goal is to have each team develop websites to address these issues.
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the day. The winning team will receive a Surface Pro 4 for the team leader and Xbox One S FIFA '17 bundle for each team member.
Topics are being collected to form teams. Please register and note if you are interested in leading a team. Our teams currently include:
Word Biases, Max Leiserson, Microsoft Research 
When you envision a nurse, a woman most likely pops into your mind. If you imagine an accomplished executive, on the other hand, it's quite likely you're thinking about a man. It's not just you, though. The machine learning algorithms that target ads at us, prune our search results, or sort resumes for recruiters are all plagued by gendered stereotypes.https://papers.nips.cc/paper/6228-man-is-to-computer-programmer-as-woman-is-to-homemaker-debiasing-word-embeddings,
Pre-Trial Fairness, Sam Corbett-Davies, Stanford, 
Courts around the country use machine learned risk scores to guide them in deciding whether defendants should be detained before their trial. There is concern that these scores could be unfair to certain groups, but recent research has shown that different concepts of fairness are mutually exclusive, so policy makers must make trade offs. In this project we'll develop an interactive webpage toexplore the fairness tradeoffs inherent in risk assessments, similar to this work from Google studying fictitious loans. https://5harad.com/papers/fairness.pdf
Political influence: Who has Political Power and How Do You Measure It?, Weiwei Pan, Harvard Institute of Applied Computational Science
The unequal distribution of power among the members of a political system is one of the most pervasive facts of political life." - S. J. Brams (Measuring the Concentration of Power in Political Systems, 1968).
Racial Discrimination in Facial Recognition, Genevieve Patterson, Microsoft Research
Government agencies are rapidly adopting automatic face recognition and matching in law enforcement practices. Unfortunately, commonly used data-driven training algorithms are only as good as the data you feed them. We will explore the discriminatory effects of training deep nets on racially unbalanced collections of face images and how such training data bias can be identified and corrected. 

Other topics to be added ...
AGENDA
9:30am: Doors Open, Check-In, Coffee
10am: Kick-Off & Team Orientations/Hacking
4:30pm: -7pm: Team Presentations, Dinner, Prizes and Awards

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Half-Measure Interventions in Theory and Syria
WHEN  Thursday, May 11, 2017, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S)  Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Middle East Initiative
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch@harvard.edu
LINK http://www.belfercenter.org/event/half-measure-interventions-theory-and-syria-0

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The spatial structure of biodiversity: theory, experiments, and synthesis
Thursday, May 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Luis J. Gilarranz, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich
Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing an unprecedented rate of degradation. This has tremendous consequences for wildlife and for the lives and the economies of all of us. After decades of research we wonder whether we have a good enough understanding of ecological systems to revert the situation. Such understanding should come from a dialogue between theoretical advances and experiments and synthesis that may support or debunk such theories. 

In this talk I’m going to contrast theory against data to show that species interactions, perturbations, and dispersal routs play a big role in determining the health of an ecosystem in a certain location. Moreover, the fact that certain places seem healthier than others allows us to unveil previously undocumented effects of 
anthropogenic activities. Even when ecological communities may seem healthy in terms of the presence and abundance of their constituent species, they may be losing the capacity to withstand further environmental degradation.

Environmental Sciences Seminar Series 
Hosted by: Otto Cordero (ottox@mit.edu) Serguei Saavedra (sersaa@mit.edu)

Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/sergueisaavedra/seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0.00 
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact:  Denise Stewart
6172588685
dstewart@mit.edu 

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Inside Out: Visualizing chemical transformations and light-matter interactions with nanometer-scale resolution
Thursday, May 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 6-104

Speaker: Prof. Jennifer Dionne from Stanford University

Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series 
The Center for Materials Science and Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Materials Processing Center welcome a wide variety of outside speakers to deliver lectures to the MIT community.

Web site: web.mit.edu/cmse
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0 
Tickets: n/a 
Sponsor(s): Materials@MIT, Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series, Center for Materials Science & Engineering, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Processing Center
For more information, contact:  Gina Franzetta
6172536850
materials@mit.edu 

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From Taft to Trump: How Conservative Media Activists Won -- and Lost -- the GOP
Thursday, May 11
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

As Donald Trump built his lead in the Republican primaries, the editors of National Review came out with an entire "Against Trump" issue, a full-throated -- and ultimately ineffective -- denunciation of the GOP nominee. Soon conservative media personalities were taking sides, culminating in the hiring of Breitbart's Steve Bannon to run the Trump campaign. 

But the centrality of conservative media to presidential politics is not a new development. As early as the 1950s, conservative media activists were organizing third-party tickets, promoting presidential candidates, and encouraging their audiences to cast votes based on ideology rather than party. In this talk, Nicole Hemmer will explain how conservative media activists won the GOP for the right ??? and how in the era of Trump, they lost it. 

Nicole Hemmer is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and a research associate at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Her book, Messengers of the Right, a history of conservative media in the United States, was published in Penn Press in September 2016.

Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/nicole-hemmer-conservative-media-activists-won-lost-gop/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact:  Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw@mit.edu 

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Green Buildings Locally and Statewide
Thursday, May 11
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm  Repeats 
50 Milk Street 18th Floor, "Hemingway” Room, Boston

Legislation and policy drives our industry, but who drives changes in legislation and law?  Join our Advocacy committee as they interpret, suggest updates to, and advocate for advances in laws and policy related to green buildings. All are welcome to join in this high level discussion.  General Questions: How can this committee reach out and build value for practitioners and the larger community? How can we accommodate both detailed issue-based discussions as well as more inviting, general discussions for new members? Make a Plan to Brainstorm, Prioritize and Select 3 Priorities for 2017 (6-6:20) Connecting our priorities to other national / local legislative agendas (USGBC, ILFI)  Roles on Committee, General Communication, Decision Making  Upcoming Events / 2017 Calendar Overview (6:40-7) o Confirm upcoming meetings and activities o Advocacy Roundtable with BSA:  12/8, 8:30AM o Co-Signing Fair – January.  How do we want to participate? o Map out 2017 Activities and Cadence of Internal Meetings and Externally focused events We look forward to seeing you there! Here is some background on what the Chapter has been working on recently: We are still tracking our current priorites:: PACE Clean Energy Financing – we were victorious in attaining PACE for Massachusetts in 2016! Now: how can we bring this new tool to bear on green building projects throughout the Commonwealth? Net Zero Energy building code – how can we  shift the conversation on codes? How can we support municipalities who are leading – like Cambridge with their Net Zero Action Plan? Net Metering Improvements – we were able to engineer reform of net metering in 2016, but we know it was a temporary fix. How do we position our advocacy efforts to ensure we see progress in early 2017?   Also, we are tracking other initiatives including: Building Energy Benchmarking (BERDO & BEUDO) The MA “Stretch Code” for energy efficiency The greening of the MLS and the residential market transformation Energy efficiency education

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The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Natural World—and Us
Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford St., Cambridge
Thursday, May 11
6:00PM
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Richard O. Prum, William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology and Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.

Can adaptation by natural selection truly account for everything we see in nature? How do animal mating displays and mate choice drive evolutionary change? What insights can they offer about the evolution of human sexuality? Drawing from his new book, The Evolution of Beauty, Richard Prum will consider Charles Darwin’s long-neglected theory of sexual selection, in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons is an independent engine of evolutionary change. In a reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, Prum will reveal how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the natural world.

Contact:  hmnh@hmsc.harvard.edu

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Amazing Aquatic Athletes in the Anthropocene
Thursday, May 11
7pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX Theatre, One Aquarium Wharf, Boston

Jodie Rummer, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Globally, coral reefs are at risk from human-induced stressors – such as ocean warming, acidification, and hypoxia – now more than at any time in recorded history. Dramatic effects on fish performance, distribution, and overall ecosystem health are predicted. While the evolutionary success of fish is credited to their adaptations to challenging environmental conditions, whether they can keep pace with the large-scale, rapid changes plaguing their habitats today is not known. Coral reef fishes may be at greater risk as they diversified during a time of relative stable environmental conditions, and today’s rapidly changing conditions may heighten their vulnerability.

Through her research, Dr. Jodie Rummer is tracking metabolic and swimming performance of fishes under climate-change relevant conditions, across development and species, and over multiple generations. This information is crucial for making predictions as to which species and/or populations may be most at risk from climate change and whether the fishes’ long evolutionary history will be enough to protect them from future changes in their habitat.

More information at http://www.neaq.org/learn/lectures/upcoming-lectures/

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Clean Energy Momentum:  Ranking State Progress - a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists
Thursday, May 11
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; Presentation begins at 7:30 p.m
First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist;  3 Church Street, Harvard Square

California is doing the best job transitioning its power sector away from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives, followed by Vermont and Massachusetts, but a number of unexpected states also are leading the way, according to a just-released report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). 

The UCS Clean Energy Momentum State Ranking uniquely examines each state's clean energy past, present and future and uses 12 easy-to-understand metrics to assess states. The metrics examine technical progress by assessing key trends in state deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency and electrification of vehicles. They also gauge progress in areas more directly visible in people's daily lives-job creation and pollution reduction-and state policies aimed at carrying clean energy momentum into the future.

Federal action to promote clean energy, unfortunately, is uncertain at best, just when we need to move as quickly as possible. So state leadership is now more important than ever. 

Join us at the BASEA Forum, Thursday, May 11th, to find out why Massachusetts isn't number one, to learn how it compares to other states, and to hear insights and recommendations from the authors of the analysis. 

Paula Garcia, an energy analyst in the UCS Climate and Energy Program, evaluates energy resource and climate change mitigation options in the electricity sector and works to advance public understanding of renewable and conventional energy technologies, policies, and markets. She holds a master's degree in sustainable international development from Brandeis University and an industrial engineering degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, where she is originally from.

John Rogers is a senior energy analyst at UCS with expertise in clean energy technologies and policies.  John joined UCS in 2006 after working for 15 years on private and public clean energy initiatives, including as co-founder of a leading developer of clean energy solutions for rural markets and as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. He has appeared numerous times on radio, on television, and in publications ranging from The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Christian Science Monitor to Fortune, Popular Mechanics, and Good Housekeeping. He holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

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Friday, May 12
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Bangladesh Sustainable Development Conference 2017 at Harvard University
WHEN  Friday, May 12, 2017
WHERE  Harvard University, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Conferences, Environmental Sciences, Information Technology, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program
SPEAKER(S)  Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
DIRECTED BY  Mohammed Yousuf
COST  Free and open to public
TICKET WEB LINK  http://www.isdiworld.com
CONTACT INFO mohammed_yousuf@dfci.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Bangladesh SDG Conference on May 12, 2017
Achieving SDG - Sustainable Development Goals through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment
The organizing committee of the annual Harvard University Conference on Bangladesh invites academics, policymakers, practitioners, and experts to participate in the seminar on ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment’ that will convene on Friday, May 12, 2017 at Harvard University. The day-long seminar will be organized by the International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) in cooperation with the SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.
The objective of this year’s conference is to bring together entrepreneurs, policymakers, and philanthropists who seek to accelerate the growth of Bangladesh through entrepreneurship, investment, and commerce. These can be powerful mechanisms for alleviating poverty and generating prosperity, which are important preconditions for achieving the SDGs. Moreover, they provide paths for empowering women, upgrading workforces, and transforming the rural economy. In this conference, we will explore the steps required to encourage these three vital facets of the development goals.
Our keynote speakers among others are Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
The time is: Friday, May 12, 2017; 8:30am to 5:30pm;
The venue: Harvard Law School, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
The deliberations will explore key topics including: 1) SDGs and Social Protection and Labor Standards; 2) Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals; 3) SDGs: Major Challenges and Opportunities for Bangladesh; 4) Inclusive Finance and Investment for SDGs; 5) Affordable and Clean Energy: Prospect, Achievements and Challenges; 6) Infrastructure Development for Commerce and Industries and 7) Information and Communications Technologies: Accelerated Journey towards Middle Income Status.
Contact information: Mohammed Iqbal Yousuf, mohammed_yousuf@dfci.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.isdiworld.com

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NE Machine Learning Day 2017
Friday, May 12
9:30am - 5pm
Microsoft New England Research Center, Horace Mann Conference Room, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge

About
The sixth annual New England Machine Learning Day will be Friday, May 12, 2017, at Microsoft Research New England, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. The event will bring together local academics and researchers in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and their applications. There will be a lively poster session during lunch. Submit posters at https://aka.ms/nemlposter by April 24.

Interested in helping improve fairness and reduce bias/discrimination in ML? Attend New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML, the day before, Thursday May 11, at the same location.

Schedule
9:55–10:00  Opening remarks
10:00–10:30  Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Intelligent robots redux
10:35–11:05  Alexander Rush, Harvard University
Structured attention networks
11:10–11:40  Lester Mackey, Microsoft Research
Measuring sample quality with Stein’s method
11:40–1:45  Lunch and posters
1:45–2:15  Thomas Serre, Brown University
What are the visual features underlying human versus machine vision?
2:20–2:50  David Sontag, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Causal inference via deep learning
2:50–3:20  Coffee break
3:20–3:50  Roni Khardon, Tufts University
Effective variational inference in non-conjugate 2-level latent variable models
3:55–4:25  Tina Eliassi-Rad, Northeastern University
Learning, mining and graphs
4:30–5:00  Erik Learned-Miller, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bootstrapping intelligence with motion estimation

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Nobel Laureate Jean-Marie Lehn Distinguished Lecture
Friday, May 12
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Northeastern, Egan Research Center (Raytheon Hall, room 240), 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nobel-laureate-jean-marie-lehn-distinguished-lecture-tickets-34115597671

The evolution of the universe has generated more and more complex forms of matter through self-organization, from particles up to living and thinking matter. Animate as well as inanimate matter, living organisms as well as materials, are formed of molecules and of the organized entities resulting from the interaction of molecules with each other. Chemistry provides the bridge between the molecules of inanimate matter and the highly complex molecular architectures and systems, which make up living and thinking organisms. Synthetic chemistry has developed a very powerful set of methods for constructing ever more complex molecules. Supramolecular chemistry seeks to control the formation of molecular assemblies by means of the interactions between the partners. The designed generation of organized architectures requires the handling of information at the molecular level in a sort of molecular programming, thus also linking chemistry with information science. The field of chemistry is the universe of all possible structures and transformations of molecular matter, of which those actually realized in nature represent just one world among all the worlds that await to be created! Conceptual considerations on chemistry and science in general will be presented.

About the Speaker:  Jean-Marie LEHN was born in Rosheim, France in 1939. In 1970 he became Professor of Chemistry at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and from 1979 to 2010 he was Professor at the Collège de France in Paris. He is presently Professor at the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS). He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987 for his studies on the chemical basis of “molecular recognition” (i.e. the way in which a receptor molecule recognizes and selectively binds a substrate), which also plays a fundamental role in biological processes. 
Over the years his work led him to the definition of a new field of chemistry, which he has proposed calling “supramolecular chemistry” as it deals with the complex entities formed by the association of two or more chemical species held together by non-covalent intermolecular forces, whereas molecular chemistry concerns the entities constructed from atoms linked by covalent bonds. Subsequently, the area developed into the chemistry of “self-organization” processes and more recently towards “adaptive chemistry”, dynamic networks and complex systems. Author of more than 950 scientific publications, Lehn is a member of many academies and institutions. He has received numerous international honours and awards.

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Soil Moisture and Plant Biomass Dynamics: Impact of Climate Change
Friday, May 12
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Hosted by: Otto Cordero (ottox@mit.edu) Serguei Saavedra (sersaa@mit.edu)
Speaker: Professor Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe Distinguished University Professor, Texas A&M University
The temporal dynamics of vegetation biomass is of vital importance for evaluating the sustainability of arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Soil moisture and plant biomass fluctuate stochastically with the occurrence of rainfall events. The coupled dynamics of both processes can be quantified by its analytically 
derived time dependent probability distribution which allows for the study of the impact of climate change scenarios on vegetation cover and and plant water resource competition. It is found that in a restored desert ecosystem in NW China, the changes in the growing season photosynthetic biomass are expected to be near 25% of the present one.

Environmental Sciences Seminar Series

Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/sergueisaavedra/seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0.00 
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact:  Denise Stewart
6172588685
dstewart@mit.edu 

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Starr Forum: US & Mexico in the Trump Era
Friday, May 12, 2017
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Why build fences when we can build bridges? 
Speakers:  Lourdes Melgar, CIS Wilhelm Fellow and Mexico's former deputy secretary of energy for hydrocarbons. 
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican Ambassador to the US (2007-2013). He is a Non Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the USC Annenberg Public Diplomacy School. 

Free & open to the public | Lunch served 
Can't attend in person? Watch it on Facebook live or on-demand on YouTube. 
For more information or accessibility accommodations please contact starrforum@mit.edu.

CIS Starr Forum 
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.

Web site: https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-us-mexico-trump-era
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT-Mexico Program
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
starrforum@mit.edu 

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PSFC Seminar: High temperature superconductors: advantages and key challenges in their deployment for high-field magnets and large scale applications
Friday, May 12
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge

Plasma Science and Fusion Center Seminar Series
Speaker: Luisa Chiesa
After 25 years of development, several high temperature superconductors (HTS) are becoming engineering materials commercially available in long-length wires. Those conductors can carry enormous electrical current in strong magnetic fields while meeting various other challenges. Such characteristics enable the construction of a broad spectrum of devices useful for basic science, medicine, and energy. 

In this talk, the state-of-art manufacturing, properties and challenges of key HTS conductors will be discussed with particular focus on REBCO coated conductors. The electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties and failure mechanisms important for constructing devices will be discussed and examples of large scale projects employing those materials will be given to illustrate the positive impact those new materials could have in future generation???s magnets.

Web site: Tufts University
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact:  Paul Riven berg
617-253-8101
rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu 

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Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Organic
Friday, May 12
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-160, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Join us for a fireside chat with Gary Hirschberg, founder of Stonyfield Farms, and Donna Levin, EIR at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship!

Web site: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free, register online
Tickets: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
For more information, contact:  Greg Wymer
617-253-8653
trustcenter@mit.edu 

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Saturday, May 13
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Green/Rainbow Party 2017 State Convention
Saturday, May 13
First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, MA
Please pre-register at http://www.green-rainbow.org
Walk-in registration - cash or check only
Registration fee includes vegan or vegetarian lunch, and is sliding scale.

Jacqui Patterson, Keynote speaker, is the Director of the NAACP
Environmental & Climate Justice Program
Presentation. She will address environmental injustice, including how the
proliferation of climate change has a disproportionate impact on com-
munities of color and low income communities in the U.S. and around
the world.

Patricia Montes, Executive Director of Centro Presente, will speak
about immigrant needs and how the Centro Presente organization pro-
motes self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American 
community state-wide.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Workshops
Election related issues, including Rank Choice Voting, lead by Voters
Choice - MA
Activism related issues, including climate issues and immigration
Brian Cady

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DIY Garden Structures
Saturday, May 13 
10AM-12PM
30 Edgewater Drive, Mattapan
Register to save your spot!  http://www.thetrustees.org/seedsow

Why buy composters, trellises, and garden fences when you can build your own? Come learn how with Adam Monroy of HomeHarvest - Edible Landscapes and Construction. Adam will demonstrate construction of all three items, and you'll leave prepared to make simple, functional structures with readily available and affordable materials. 

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City Natives Plant Sale
Saturday, May 13 
10AM-2PM
30 Edgewater Drive, Mattapan

Come to City Natives nursery for all of your spring planting needs and some great planting tips too! Seedlings and mixed herb containers make great Mother's Day gifts!

native perennials, shrubs & trees
wide selection of organically grown heirloom & hybrid vegetables, herbs & annual flowers
medicinal herb seedlings
organic fertilizers, soil amendments & cover crops

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Watch City Steampunk Festival 
Saturday, May 13
10:00am to 5:00pm
Common, Waltham

Join dozens and dozens of exceptional craft vendors, dozens and dozens of talented performers of all kinds, delicious food and drink, and more for a day of steampunk revelry like no other!

The Watch City Steampunk Festival, centered on Waltham Common, is the largest outdoor steampunk festival in America, and it's FREE! Come immerse yourself for a day in the extraordinary, time-shifting, mind-expanding culture and aesthetic of neo-Victorian fashion crossed with retro-futuristic technology. 

See you in Downtown Waltham on Saturday, May 13, 2017!

More information at https://www.watchcityfestival.com

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Container Gardening
Saturday, May 13 
11AM-12PM
30 Edgewater Drive, Mattapan

Not enough garden space? Not a problem! Learn to grow an array of vegetables and herbs in containers on your patio, steps, driveway or wherever you can find the space. We'll cover the best containers,(including recycled ones), potting soil, varieties, and care practices. This workshop is during our spring plant sale, where you'll find plenty of seedlings and soil to get you started.

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Sunday, May 14
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JFK:  A Vision for America
Sunday, May 14
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/stephen_kennedy_smith_and_douglas_brinkley/
Cost:  $43.25 (online only, book included) - On Sale April 11, 2017 $5.00 - On Sale April 25, 2017

STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY in conversation with SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND moderated by FREDRIK LOGEVALL

Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, editors of JFK: A Vision for America, for a panel discussion on this new compendium of JFK’s most important speeches. The book's editors will be joined by contributors Ambassador SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND for a discussion moderated by historian FREDRIK LOGEVALL. The event will include a book signing with the editors.

About JFK: A Vision for America
Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, here is the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant speeches, accompanied by commentary and reflections by leading American and international figures—including Senator Elizabeth Warren, David McCullough, Kofi Annan, and the Dalai Lama—and edited by JFK’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith and renowned historian Douglas Brinkley. Combined with over seven hundred documentary photos, it tells the story, in words and pictures, of JFK’s life and presidency, and depicts his compelling vision for America.

JFK brings together in one volume John F. Kennedy’s greatest speeches alongside essays by America’s top historians, analysis from leading political thinkers, and personal insights from preeminent writers and artists. Here is JFK at his best—thought-provoking, inspiring, eloquent, and wise—on a number of wide-ranging topics, including civil rights, the race to the moon, the environment, immigration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more. JFK demonstrates the deep relevance of his words today and his lasting power and influence as an outstanding American leader and orator.
Elegantly designed and enriched by more than 500 photographs and facsimiles of Kennedy’s marginalia on drafts of speeches, his notes from important meetings, letters, and other fascinating documents, JFK is a major contribution to American history.

The august list of contributors includes Secretary John Kerry, Ambassador Samantha Power, Congressman John Lewis, Senator John McCain, Senator Elizabeth Warren, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Robert Redford, Conan O’Brien, Dave Eggers, Gloria Steinem, Don DeLillo, David McCullough, George Packer, Colum McCann, Michael Beschloss, Robert Dallek, David Kennedy, Ted Widmer, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Drew Faust, Tariq Ramadan, Pastor Rick Warren, Jonathan Alter, E. J. Dionne, Ron Suskind, Paul Krugman, Kofi Annan, Governor Jerry Brown, Paul Theroux, Jorge Domínguez, and many others.

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Gravity Hill Newsreels: 12 Short Observations About Occupy Wall Street
WHEN  Sunday, May 14, 2017, 7 – 8:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
OPEN TO Public and Harvard community
CATEGORY  Film
LIBRARY LOCATION  Harvard Film Archive
DETAILS  As a natural outgrowth of his ongoing project filming life on the streets of New York and reflecting on the politics of such public spaces, Cohen started making frequent trips to the Occupy Wall Street home base in Zucotti Park in October and November of 2011. Some of the twelve short films he shot there include moments of daily life in the base camp, some document meetings and marches, and some capture police raids and the dismantling of the encampment.
LINK http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2017marmay/cohen.html#newsreel

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Monday, May 15
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OpenSec 2017
Monday, May 15
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM EDT
Hatch Fenway, Landmark Center, 401 Park Drive, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opensec-2017-tickets-32267597252
Cost:  $0 – $18.01

Come hear from Boston's open source security community in May! Whether you're a open-source contributor, marketer or person interested in the security space our single track conference will offer engaging panels, great networking and a keynote speaker to get you away from the office on monday!

Tentative Panels:
What is Open Source security?
Abstract: Open Source projects, however rough around the edges, often provide the backbone to many cyber solutions and products on the market. How are these companies working with the OS community and building on existing projects? How can team's best leverage these projects into their existing workflows?
Too many products, Too little time: How are companies evaluating new solutions?
Abstract: Everyday it seems the realm of Cybersecurity products continues to produce new players. From endpoint detection, threat hunting and security automation the list of potential solutions grows. How are companies evaluating new products that are shown to their teams and what bridges the gap from “That’s interesting” to “We need that” in the mind of decision makers.
Joining in: How you can get into Cyber
Abstract: Hear where the opportunities lie across the cybersecurity community and what needs companies are hoping more would learn. SOCs, security teams and startups are all feeling a talent crunch. Whether you’re a hardcore opensource contributor or a strong marketer, companies across Boston are eagerly looking for talent.

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Lisa Beal, RSMAS: U Miami 
Monday, May 15
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT Building 54-923 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge

Broadly, my research interests are in large scale ocean circulation and the role of the oceans in climate and climate change. In particular, the measurement of Western Boundary Currents, such as the Agulhas Current, in terms of their structure, transports, water masses, and mixing, and the estimation of basin-wide thermohaline fluxes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. I use a variety of oceanographic instrumentation, including lowered and shipboard acoustic velocity profilers, and moored arrays of current meters and CTDs (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth). I study the role of the Agulhas system in the broader context of regional and global climate through analysis of ocean eddy-resolving coupled climate models. My service work revolves around increasing the diversity of our scientific community, including the retention of women in oceanography, and the advancement of capacity and resources to support a sustained measuring program of the Greater Agulhas System off South Africa.

About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm in 54-923. Lunch is provided after the seminars to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. 2016/2017 co-ordinators: Tom Beucler (tbeucler@mit.edu), Deepa Rao (drao@mit.edu), Madeleine Youngs (myoungs@mit.edu) and Catherine Wilka (cwilka@mit.edu)

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Next in Science: Epidemiology
WHEN  Monday, May 15, 2017, 1 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Research study, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Alana Brennan, instructor, Departments of Global Health and Epidemiology, Boston University Center for Global Health and Development
Neal D. Goldstein, assistant research professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornslife School of Public Health, Drexel University
John W. Jackson, assistant professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sonja Swanson, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam
COST  free
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS  The “Next in Science” series provides an opportunity for early-career scientists whose innovative, cross-disciplinary research is thematically linked to introduce their work to one another, to fellow scientists, and to nonspecialists from Harvard and the greater Boston area.
The focus of this year’s program will be on frontiers in epidemiology. Scholars will discuss new interdisciplinary research on the social and spatial correlation of infections and hospitals, experimental designs for evaluating HIV care and treatment, the role of epidemiologists in studying neuropsychiatric health, and finding opportunities to reduce disparities in public health.
LINK  https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-next-in-science-epidemiology-program

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The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools - joint with IO
Monday, May 15
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Glenn Ellison and Parag Pathak (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Microeconomic Applications
For more information, contact:
economics calendar

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Access to Justice Through Technology
Monday, May 15
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-and-Cambridge-Legal-Hackers/events/238603262/

Hello Legal Hackers, 
Thanks again to everyone who attended the Civic Engagement MeetUp last Thursday. As usual, we had great Q&A sessions and the venue had to kick us out!

Our next MeetUp will take place on May 15, 2017 from 6pm to 7 30pm. Location and panel at Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston, MA. Please save the date and RSVP!

Our topic: Access to Justice through technology. It seems apparent that many people do not have adequate access to the judicial system. From criminal justice to immigration, from predatory lending to employment issues, the burden on the underserved is severe. How can technology help? There are many interesting initiatives, including apps that help avoid parking tickets or create immigration applications, to video conferencing, to crowdfunding public interest lawsuits. We might also finally learn what access to justice really means!

As usual, we expect a lively panel with members of the judiciary, the legal and the tech community:  

Marc Lauritsen will join us to speak about his involvement in the Access to Justice Commission's latest project and his work on lawhelpinteractive, which aided millions.

Quentin Steenhuis of the Greater Boston Legal Services will tell us about combining his roles as an advocate and a systems administrator together with his view on the opportunities for the technology to assist those needing most help.

More participants will be announced soon!

Come to learn, to discuss, and to debate with us!

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Hostage:  Guy Delisle in conversation with HILLARY L. CHUTE
Monday, May 15
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store welcomes cartoonist and animator GUY DELISLE—author of Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen—and comics scholar HILLARY L. CHUTE—author of Outside the Box, Graphic Women, and Disaster Drawn—for a discussion of Delisle's latest book, Hostage.
About Hostage

How does one survive when all hope is lost?
In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts André’s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation.

Marking a departure from the author’s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted color washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments.

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Tuesday, May 16
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Women in Sustainability: Re-Forging the Status Quo
Tuesday, May 16
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 18th Floor, Hemingway Room, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-sustainability-re-forging-the-status-quo-tickets-33461013793
Cost:  $10 – $30

Gender bias impacts everyone in the twenty-first-century workplace. Women represent 45% of design graduates yet only 17% of firm principals and partners (AIA, NCARB). Join us for a presentation and discussion on gender in the workplace and learn how the sustainable design community is propelling market transformation. Aminah McNulty, co-chair of our Emerging Professionals Committee and member of BSA's Women in Design Committee and Equity Roundtable will lead the conversation.
The discussion will cover pay gaps, leadership pipelines, and design bias and provide action steps to foster equity in your workplace and projects.The presentation will also cover the LEED v4 Social Equity pilot credits and their intersections with gender equity.

We welcome you to celebrate the success and leadership of women in the design community - see you there and help spread the word!

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MIPS Seminar:  Air Pollution and Brain Development:  Attributable Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders
WHEN  Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
WHERE  HSPH BLdg I, Rm 1302, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Molecular & Integrative Physiological Sciences, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S)  Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences, U of Rochester School of Medicine

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Billionaires Bash! "Celebrate" PRIM Support for Trump's Agenda!
Tuesday, May 16 
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
MA PENSION FUND (PRIM) OFFICE, 84 STATE STREET, BOSTON
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/294846774269250/

Push Back Against Trump and Tillerson!

JOIN THE BILLIONAIRES BASH!
A Satirical "Celebration" of the MA Pension Fund's Continued Investment in and Complicity with Fossil Fuel Companies that are Disrupting the Climate
(Part of the May 2107 Global Divestment Mobilization)

SPEAKERS/GUESTS: DIVESTMENT BILL SPONSOR, MARJORIE DECKER; FOSSIL FUEL FREE INVESTMENT EXPERT BOB MASSIE; THE SECOND LINE SOCIAL AID AND PLEASURE SOCIETY BRASS BAND

PRIM is the board that manages the Massachusetts pension fund. Just like Donald Trump they have billions of dollars and they love investing in fossil fuels! As billionaires, we think that's great so we're throwing a party to celebrate it: Billionaires Bash #PRIM4Trump!

We will be billionaires and fossil fuel executives dancing as the world burns!
Wear your best tuxedos, top hats, gowns and tiaras.

But seriously, the message will be that PRIM must dump its toxic assets.  
The science is clear. 
The moral arguments are compelling. 
The financial future of thousands of pensioners is at stake.
The next generation is counting on us.

The PRIM (Pension Reserve Investment Management Board) has invested billions of state employees’ and teachers’ pension money in fossil fuel funds, including: 
almost $2 billion in coal, gas and oil, 
$200 million in Exxon Mobil, and 
over $50 million in the companies building the Dakota Access Pipeline

PRIM has steadfastly refused to consider divesting from these companies and it is time to shine a spotlight on their complicity with climate degradation and disruption. Experts agree that most fossil fuel reserves must remain underground if we are to have any chance of avoiding the most catastrophic results of climate change. Now more than ever - with the CEO of Exxon Mobil as Secretary of State and climate deniers in high office - we must take a stand here in Massachusetts. JOIN US ON MAY 16! Stay tuned for more details.

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Massachusetts Clean Energy Day
Tuesday, May 16
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massachusetts-clean-energy-day-tickets-32635894840
Cost:  $0 – $250

Massachusetts Clean Energy Day will showcase the growing vitality of the clean energy industry and the importance of consistent policy support as a means of catalyzing the state’s - and our region’s - economy. 
Tentative Agenda
11:00 am - 2:00 pm  Clean Energy Business Showcase * (Open to the Public - please register as General Admission)
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm  Speaking Program and Clean Energy Champion Awards
Secreatary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew A. Beaton
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm  Small Group Meetings with Key Legislators (NECEC Members only)

*NECEC Members have the unique opportunity to exhibit at the State House! Participation in the Showcase is strongly encouraged, even if your team will be participating in legislative meetings during the afternoon. Showcase tables offer additional visibility throughout the day to additional Legislators, legislative staff and members of the public.

Legislative Meetings and Exhibition Space are open only to NECEC Members in good standing. Learn more about NECEC Membership and join today!

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Saving the Rainforest: A Personal Journey - Practical Approaches Chucanti, a Cloud Forest in Panama
Tuesday, May 16
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HUH Seminar Room, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Guido Berguido, Founder, Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá
Internationally renowned ornithologist and hailed by conservation biologists as a beacon of hope for saving tropical rainforests, Guido Berguido is a scientist on a mission to save Panama’s rainforests before unknown species are driven to extinction.

Herbaria Special Seminar 
http://huh.harvard.edu/event/huh-special-seminar-guido-berguido

Contact Name:  huh-requests@oeb.harvard.edu

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Technology for Social Impact
Tuesday, May 16
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Refreshments: 12:45 PM
MIT, Building 32m Seminar Room G449 (Patil/Kiva), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Nicola Dell 
Abstract:  The goal of my research is to design, build, deploy, and evaluate novel computing systems that improve the lives of underserved populations in low-income regions. As computing technologies become affordable and accessible to diverse populations across the globe, it is critical that we expand the focus of HCI research to study the social, technical, and infrastructural challenges faced by these diverse communities and build systems that address problems in critical domains such as health care and education. In this talk, I describe my general approach to building technologies for underserved communities, including identifying opportunities for technology, conducting formative research to fully understand the space, developing novel technologies, iteratively testing and deploying, evaluating with target populations, and handing off to global development organizations for long-term sustainability.

Bio:  Nicki Dell is an Assistant Professor in Information Science at Cornell Tech. Her research spans Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) with a focus on designing, building, and evaluating novel computing systems that improve the lives of underserved populations in low-income regions. Nicki’s research and outreach activities have been recognized through numerous paper awards and fellowships. Nicki was born and raised in Zimbabwe and received a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2004, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in 2011 and 2015 respectively.

Contact: Amy Xian Zhang, axz@csail.mit.edu

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Reimagining Refugee Solutions: An open house event with RefugePoint
Tuesday, May 16
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM EDT
RefugePoint HQ, 689 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reimagining-refugee-solutions-an-open-house-event-with-refugepoint-tickets-33819631428

Every day in the news, we read in the news troubling stories of refugees and wonder what we can do to help. Even in the midst of refugee bans and dangerous journeys, we can all do something to help refugees resume normal lives.
During this unprecedented global refugee crisis, we know that more than 23 million refugees are living in limbo waiting for a chance to resume normal lives. Most refugees will wait a very long time for this; the average time someone remains a refugee is 17 years. There is a clear need to shift the public perception of refugees and provide better futures for many whose lives are on hold and in danger.
Come visit us at RefugePoint for a casual open house and a short presentation about the emerging needs of refugees. Join us (and invite a friend!) to learn about the refugee crisis and about how we can help refugees improve their own lives. We will discuss new solutions in humanitarian response that help refugees build self-reliance. We will also share stories of refugees who are facing urgent dangers with suspension of refugee resettlement to the US.

About RefugePoint: RefugePoint is a local Cambridge based nonprofit recognized widely for our innovative efforts in refugee work. We provide lasting solutions for the world’s most at-risk refugees. We have referred over 37,000 refugees for resettlement to new countries since 2005. We identify and protect refugees who have fallen through the cracks of humanitarian assistance and have no other options for survival.

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Talk: Aki Sasamoto: Talk on Good Food
WHEN  Thursday, May 18, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Level 3, CRC/bookshop, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; Cambridge Arts Council
SPEAKER(S)  Aki Sasamoto is a New York-based, Japanese artist, working with sculpture, dance, video, sound, and installation. Her installations are arrangements of sculpturally altered found objects, in which Sasamoto weaves constructed narratives that are personal yet open to relation and reflection. As part of her practice she collaborates with musicians, choreographers, scientists and scholars, and plays multiple roles of dancer, sculptor, or director.

Aki Sasamoto's recent performances include "Food Rental" at the High Line, New York (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour/The Last Call" at Parasophia, Japan (2015); and "Sunny in the Furnace" at The Kitchen, New York (2014). Sasamoto has participated in solo exhibitions such as "Delicate Cycle," SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York (2016); "No Choice," Harmony Murphy Gallery, Los Angeles (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour," JTT, New York (2014). Additionally she has participated in group exhibitions such as the 3rd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2016); 11th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (2016), "Roppongi Crossing 2013: Out of Doubt" at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2013); "A LIKENESS HAS BLISTERS" at CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2012); Gwangju Biennale 2012, Gwangju, South Korea (2012); and the "Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2010).
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO  ccva@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Sasamoto will discuss the use of food and metaphor in art making. This talk is in collaboration with the Cambridge Arts Council exhibition, "Common Exchange," on view May 14–Sep 30, 2017.
LINK  http://ccva.fas.harvard.edu/aki-sasamoto-talk-on-good-food

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Dr. James O’Connell, author of Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
Tuesday, May 16 
6 – 7:30 p.m.
COMMONWEALTH SALON, CENTRAL LIBRARY IN COPLEY SQUARE, 700 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON

Three decades ago, James O’Connell, MD, 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 for the city’s homeless men, women, and children—Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). Dr. O’Connell thought he’d put in a few years, and then get back on track with his “real” career. But along the way, he fell in love with the challenges of homeless medicine, his patients, and their stories, now collected in Stories from the Shadows. O’Connell tells the history of homeless medicine in Boston, largely through the treatment, triumphs, and tragedies of some of his most memorable  patients.  

As president of BHCHP with an active practice working with people who live outside, Dr. O’Connell has become an international expert on homeless medicine, helping transform it into a highly respected specialty with a strong research base.

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How Glaciers Affect Earth and Climate
Tuesday, May 16 
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont

Jack Ridge, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Glacial and Quaternary Geology, Geomorphology, Tufts University 
North American Glacial Varve Project

Professor Ridge is an expert on glacial cycles, with emphasis on how the last deglaciation in the northeastern U.S. influenced climate in North America. This investigation involves a reconstruction of the changes in the sediments left by ice sheets (varves) over centuries. The varve records provide crucial information about climate changes over long periods of time. The varve records also indicate when ancient habitation was possible or not. 

More information at http://www.scienceforthepublic.org/coming-events/may-16-how-glaciers-affect-earth-and-climate

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JOHN HAY, FRIEND OF GIANTS 
Tuesday, May 16
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harvard-coop-author-series-philip-mcfarland-tickets-33780309816

Harvard Coop Author Series - Philip McFarland humanizes a crucial period of American history by means of Hay’s friendship with a key figure in each of four successive decades. Hay was one of the most famous men in the world at the time of his death in 1905, and for good reason. In the 1860s he had been private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, living in the White House close to the President throughout the Civil War. In the 1870s Hay became good friends with Mark Twain, their friendship arising partly out of a similar childhood along the Mississippi River, partly out of their growing literary fame. In the 1880s Hay nurtured his friendship with the Anglo-American novelist Henry James through frequent visits to England and the Continent, as Americans in increasing numbers crossed the Atlantic to enjoy the sophistications of Europe. And in the 1890s Hay’s friendship with Theodore Roosevelt moved toward its climax, TR urging the country into the ranks of a world power, with Hay destined to become his very effective secretary of state. An interrelated, enlightening story, instructively fascinating in itself and with much to say about the nation we live in now. 

About the Auithor
The father of two grown sons, Philip McFarland was born in Birmingham, Alabama, where he attended public schools before entering Phillips Exeter Academy. He majored in history at Oberlin College, served for 3 1/2 years in the U.S. Navy, then took a degree in English at Cambridge University. He now lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.

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Playsentations - 2.00b Toy Product Design Presentations
Tuesday, May 16
7:30p–10:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Join us for Toy Product Design Presentations! 16 teams will present their original toy concepts based on the theme "Animate!" Afterwards, there will be opportunities to test the toys and good ole' cookies + milk!

Web site: http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/index.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): 2.00b Toy Product Design
For more information, contact:  2.00b-ta@mit.edu 

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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 17
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, May 17
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM
Pret A Manger, 101 Arch Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-30734222888

Join us every month for Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals for networking, discussion and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time between 7:30 and 8:30 am.

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Innovations in American Government Awards Finalists Presentations
WHEN  Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 1 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Award Ceremonies
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
COST  Free
DETAILS  Government Works: We'll Show You How
Join us to hear each of the finalist programs for the Innovations in American Government Awards make a presentation to the Innovations National Selection Committee in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The Innovations in American Government Awards program is a significant force in recognizing and promoting excellence and creativity in the public sector. Through its awards competition, the program provides concrete evidence that government can work to improve the quality of life for citizens and that it deserves greater public trust.
LINK  http://ash.harvard.edu/event/innovations-american-government-awards-finalists-presentations-0

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Learning Deeply at Scale: The Challenge of Our Times
WHEN  Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Jal Mehta, 2016–2017 Evelyn Green Davis Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; Associate Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO  events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS   In this talk, Mehta will discuss his book in progress, “The Chastened Dream,” which is a history of how publicly oriented professional schools—education, public health, public policy, and urban planning and design—have sought to couple science with social policy to achieve social progress. The book investigates the origins of that dream in the Progressive Era, the challenges it faced across the 20th century, and how it might be remade to anchor a renewed vision of liberalism in the 21st century.
LINK  https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-jal-mehta-fellow-presentation

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ArtScience Talk:  Seeing Is Believing: Parallel Lives of Chefs and Scientists
Wednesday, May17
6pm - 7:30pm
Doors 6:00pm / Talk 6:30pm  
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artscience-talks-le-lab-benjamin-wolfe-scott-jones-tickets-34001962786

ArtScience Talks @ Le Lab: Benjamin Wolfe & Scott Jones

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DesignX Pitch and Demo Night
Wednesday, May 17
6:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 9-255, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The eight ventures of DesignX's Spring 2017 Cohort will be pitching their businesses and showcasing their technology.

Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): DesignX
For more information, contact:  Gilad Rosenzweig
617-999-5370
giladr@mit.edu 

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Let's Talk about Impeachment: Protect our Constitution
Wednesday, May 17
7pm - 9pm
Pierce Elementary School Auditorium, 50 School Street, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-impeachment-tickets-34002952747

Learn why Congress should start an impeachment investigation now in conversation with Ben Clements, Chair of Free Speech for People and Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People.

Inform yourself in advance of the Town Meeting vote:
Town Meeting members in Brookline will vote on whether to pass a Resolution in Support of a Congressional Investigation regarding the Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump at the May 23 Town Meeting.
Speakers:
Ben Clements, Chair of the Board for Free Speech for People
Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People
Our speakers wrote the Jan 2017 Newsweek article Will Trump be Allowed to Defy the Constitution?
http://www.newsweek.com/will-trump-be-allowed-defy-constitution-547759
For more information on the Brookline Resolution, see this article in the Huffington Post:  https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#search/huffin/15b8f1f03eb2

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Exceptional America
Wednesday, May 17
7:00pm    
First Church, 3 Church Street, Cambridge

What divides Americans from the world and from each other?
Stanford Law professor Mugambi Jouet will discuss his new book Exceptional America which tackles why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war.

Why is America so polarized? How does American exceptionalism explain these social changes?

Mugambi Jouet teaches at Stanford Law School and is a frequent media commentator. His research focuses on U.S. criminal law, constitutional law, and policymaking from a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing history, sociology, political science, and the humanities.

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One in a Million: The battle against antibiotic resistance
Wednesday, May 17
7pm - 9pm
Harvard, Pfizer Hall, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge

More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/

This event will be streamed.

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Thursday, May 18
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STEX Workshop-Batteries and Beyond: Energy Storage Innovation
Thursday, May 18
8:00a–11:30a
MIT, Building E90, 1 Main Street, Cambridge

STEX Workshop

Web site: https://startupexchange.mit.edu/startupexchange/html/index.html#events
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Office of Corporate Relations/ILP
For more information, contact:  Trond Undheim
617-253-8983
Undheim@ilp.mit.edu 

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Equity and Collective Impact in Systems Change
WHEN  Thursday, May 18, 2017, 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Askwith Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Education Redesign Lab
Harvard Graduate School of Education
SPEAKER(S)  Dr. Michael McAfee, President of PolicyLink
TICKET WEB LINK  https://hpe.hobsonsradius.com/ssc/eform/I7B04m0zzx6G0x670Gd78F.ssc
TICKET INFO  Register online
CONTACT INFO  Jessica Boyle
Education Redesign Lab
jessica_boyle@gse.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Dr. Michael McAfee, President of PolicyLink, has led the effort to make President Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods initiative a reality in communities across the United States. Please join the Education Redesign Lab and cities participating in the Lab's By All Means initiative for Dr. McAfee’s keynote speech entitled "Equity and Collective Impact in Systems Change," which will focus on the work of the Promise Neighborhood Institute to build stronger systems of educational support and opportunity for children.
LINK  https://www.facebook.com/events/1244163169014869/

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Bringing the Benefits of Solar to Low-Income Customers
Thursday, May 18
1:00pm — 2:00pm ET
Webinar
RSVP at http://cesa.org/webinars/bringing-the-benefits-of-solar-to-low-income-customers/?date=2017-05-18

The Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) is producing a guide on bringing the benefits of solar to low-income consumers. The guide, "Bringing the Benefits of Solar to Low-Income Consumers: A Guide for States and Municipalities," is designed for state and municipal officials, and will be released in May. It will identify successful and promising approaches, offer factors policymakers should consider, and provide policy and program design recommendations for bringing the benefits of solar to low-income consumers.  

In this webinar, report author Ben Paulos (PaulosAnalysis) will provide an overview of the guide. There will be time to address questions from the audience. CESA Project Director Nate Hausman will host. 

This webinar and report are being produced through CESA’s Sustainable Solar Education Project as part of a series on strategies to ensure that solar remains consumer friendly and benefits low- and moderate-income households.

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The China Shock: Economic and Political Consequences of China's Rise for the United States
Thursday, May 18
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Webcast at: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/d2p2

Speaker: David Autor
China's rise as an economic power has significantly shifted the patterns of world trade and challenged the existing empirical research about how labor markets react to trade shocks. 

On Thursday, May 18 at 4:00 p.m. EST, David Autor (MIT) will deliver a talk entitled, "The China Shock: Economic and Political Consequences of China's Rise for the United States," to discuss the impacts on consumers, labor markets, and inequality. Co-hosted by MIT's Department of Economics and J-PAL, this lecture will take place on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA. 

Aimed at a diverse audience, D^2P^2 shares lessons from modern applied economics research to demonstrate how it can inform public policy. This public lecture series, designed to be accessible to the broader academic and Greater Boston communities, features engaging talks by J-PAL affiliates and other experts on groundbreaking research and practice.

Data. Decisions. Public Policy. lecture series

Web site: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/d2p2
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): J-PAL
For more information, contact:  J-PAL
d2p2lectures@povertyactionlab.org 

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Panel discussion on AI & the Future of Healthcare
Thursday, May 18
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Venture Café @ CIC, 5th floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-discussion-on-ai-the-future-of-healthcare-tickets-34053329425

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are revolutionizing all industries, and one that can benefit enormously from these technologies is the medical sector. ML can enable cost reduction, an increasement in efficiency, and process optimalization. Ultimately, this can improve patient experiences, and save lives.
Join us in this panel discussion on the Future of Healthcare, where we foster a dialogue between technical and medical experts, and discuss solutions for tomorrow’s hospitals.

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Friday, May 19
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Measuring Methane Emissions from Dairies
Friday, May 19
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Claudia Arndt, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/94976

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What Made Me Who I Am
Friday. May 19
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/bernie_swain_and_doris_kearns_goodwin/
Cost:  $27.25 (online only, book-included) - On Sale April 11, 2017 $5.00 - On Sale April 25, 2017

Bernie Swain and Doris Kearns Goodwin
Harvard Book Store welcomes Washington Speakers Bureau co-founder BERNIE SWAIN and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN for a discussion of Swain's book, What Made Me Who I Am—a collection of profiles on thirty-four remarkable leaders, including Goodwin, and the influences that shaped them. A signing with both authors will follow the discussion.
About What Made Me Who I Am

Starting a business is a wonderfully naïve venture. Only a fortunate few will survive—and very few of those who thrive will have something special to say about failure, success, and leadership.  

Bernie Swain is one of those few very fortunate people. He quit his job in 1980 to start a lecture agency with his wife and a friend. By the end of their first rocky year—just as his savings were running out—Swain's first revenues trickled in. He began signing every speaker with a handshake; this proved to be the hallmark of trust that helped accelerate the company's growth. Years later, his roster of speakers would be the greatest in history since America's first agency represented a host of notables such as Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass.  
The best of Swain's fortunes turned out to be the speakers themselves because these remarkable leaders had become his personal friends. What Made Me Who I Am captures the leadership transformations of 34 of those friends—from Doris Kearns Goodwin to Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw to Tom Brokaw, and Tony Blair to Dave Barry. This assembly of people defines a generation. What were their most powerful influences? Defining moments? Decisions that contributed the most to their character and accomplishments?

Swain captures answers to these questions and more in an inspiring, practical collection of true-life stories for leaders today. What Made Me Who I Am is also a terrific gift book for graduates and others who are just starting out in life.

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Invisible Nation
Friday, May 19
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
More than 2.5 million children are homeless in the United States every year. In every state, children are living packed in with relatives, or in cars, or motel rooms, or emergency shelters, the only constant being too many people in too little space. In a vividly-written narrative, experienced journalist Richard Schweid takes us on a spirited journey through this "invisible nation," giving us front-row dispatches. Based on in-depth reporting from five major cities, Invisible Nation looks backward at the historical context of family homelessness, as well as forward at what needs to be done to alleviate this widespread, although often hidden, poverty. Invisible Nation is a riveting must-read for anyone who wants to know what is happening to the millions of families living at the bottom of the economy.

Richard Schweid is a journalist and documentary reporter. He is theauthor of nine nonfiction books, including Che's Chevrolet, Fidel's Oldsmobile: On the Road in Cuba, Hot Peppers: The Story of Cajuns and Capsicum, Consider the Eel: A Natural and Gastronomic History, and The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore. He has also produced or reported more than two dozen documentaries for Catalonian public television, including the Oscar-nominated Balseros.

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Saturday, May 20
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Hull Wind Turbine Tour Cruise & Electric Vehicle Showcase
Saturday, May 20
9:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Mass Bay Lines, Rowes Wharf, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hull-wind-turbine-tour-cruise-electric-vehicle-showcase-tickets-33214246706
Cost:  $0 – $15

Back by popular demand, the Hull Turbine Tour Cruise sets sail on May 20th from Rowes Wharf in Boston! This event is open to the public. Get your tickets by May 15th! Kids 10 & under are free.

Mass Energy and the Mass Chapter of the Sierra Club invite you to join us for a tour of local renewable energy! During the event, you'll have the opportunity to check out Hull's wind turbine up close, PLUS the latest electric vehicles.

We'll charter the M/V Freedom and take a one hour cruise down to Pemberton Point, where we will hop off the boat and hike over to get up close and personal with Hull 1, Massachusetts' first community-scale wind turbine, built in 2002! Electric vehicles will be on display during the tour of Hull 1. Then it's a lovely sail back to Boston.

Breakfast is included and there will be a concession stand once we reach Hull. Cash bar will be open. This is a great opportunity to meet other supporters of clean energy and spend a windy springtime morning on the water.

Boarding is at 9am. We will arrive back at Rowes Wharf around 12:30pm.

Participants must sign a standard waiver and minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who will need to sign an additional standard waiver for the minor. Click on these links to preview the standard waiver, minor waiver and forms.

Please contact us with any questions!
Anna@massenergy.org
greenreply@massenergy.org
617-524-3950 x5
We can't wait to see you there!

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South End Plant Sale
Saturday, May 20 
10AM-2PM
Berkeley Community Garden, 500 Tremont Street, Boston

Come to Berkeley Community Garden for all of your spring planting needs and some great planting tips too! All plants and seedlings are grown at City Natives, the Trustees' Boston nursery.

native perennials, shrubs & trees
wide selection of organically grown heirloom & hybrid vegetables, herbs & annual flowers
medicinal herb seedlings
organic fertilizers, soil amendments & cover crops

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"Fighting Fascism: Rosa Manus and the international women's peace movement in the 1930's”
WHEN  Saturday, May 20, 2017, 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Smith Hall, Harvard Hillel, 52 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Worship and Study Congregation at Harvard Hillel
SPEAKER(S)  Harriet Feinberg
DETAILS  This is a potluck dairy 'lunch-and-learn" after Shabbat services. Dutch Jewish feminist Rosa Manus (1881-1942) was at the center of an international coalition of women’s groups advocating for peace and disarmament during the ominous 1930s.  A new book with essays by eight authors and an array of documents and photos is finally giving her the recognition she has long deserved. Come for lunch at 11:45 a.m., or at 12:15 p.m. for the talk.

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Sunday, May 21
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SWAPFEST
Sunday, May 21
9:00a–2:00p
MIT, Albany Street Garage and Lots, Cambridge

MIT's monthly Hi Tech, Computer, Electronics and Ham Radio Fleamarket. 
Buy Sell or Swap all things nerdly. 
Held the third Sunday of each month April thru October. 
Rain or Shine covered space is available for all sellers. 
In the Albany St Garage and adjacent lot. 
On Albany St between Mass Ave and Main St, Cambridge. 
$6 Buyers admission from 9AM to 2PM. 
Free for MIT and Harvard Undergraduates with current ID

Web site: www.swapfest.us
Open to: the general public
Cost: $6
This event occurs on the 3rd Sunday of every month through October 15, 2017.
Sponsor(s): MIT Radio Society, Electronic Research Society, MIT, UHF Repeater Assn. W1XM, MIT
For more information, contact:  Mitchell Berger
617-253-3776
w1mx-officers@mit.edu

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Superpower Discovery Session - "Stop Playing Small"
Sunday, May 21
9:30a–5:30p
MIT, Building E25-117, 45 Carleton, Cambridge
RSVP at  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Cost: $90-120 (after 70% discount using MITHERO)

Speaker: Konstantin Mitgutsch & Lena Robinson, Lightspace
We all have Superpowers - personal, often surprising strengths that lie at the core of who we are - but we rarely live them in our everyday life, our jobs and relationships. Many people don't know what their Superpowers actually are. They are still hidden and have yet to be discovered. 

This is exactly what Superpower Discovery is for. In our workshops, we work with unconventional methods from game design and creative sectors to get to the bottom of everyone's Superpowers. In the course of the whole-day session participants create their very own card set, which documents their individual journey and can be used for all further explorations. The goal is to live your Superpowers!

Superpower Discovery is run by Light Space, a Vienna-based organization providing creative tools that support people to uncover and dive into their deepest strengths. We run workshops and retreats internationally, for individuals and teams. 

Find our Superpower Discovery Quiz, more information and other events here: http://www.lightspace.io

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Open to: the general public
Cost: $90-120 (after 70% discount using MITHERO)
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT Game Lab
For more information, contact:  Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw@mit.edu  

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Tuesday, May 23
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Massachusetts’ renewable energy outlook: Onshore, offshore and the transmis...
Tuesday, May 23
7:30 AM – 9:30 AM EDT
Omni Parker House, 60 School Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massachusetts-renewable-energy-outlook-onshore-offshore-and-the-transmission-challenge-tickets-34078299110

As Massachusetts reaches a critical juncture in procuring more renewable sources of energy, important questions are surfacing. Is Massachusetts best positioned to meet its long-term clean energy goals? Are the incentives in place to build transmission commensurate with the Commonwealth’s energy needs and the economic opportunity of widespread job creation? And what can Massachusetts learn from other states and countries that have embraced a clean-energy agenda?

Join us at the State House News Forum event on May 23, when leading energy experts explore these questions and more at this pivotal moment in Massachusetts’ energy history.

Panelists include:
Ed Krapels, CEO of Anbaric Development Partners
Ben Downing, VP of New Market Development, Nexamp
Judy Chang, Principal, The Brattle Group

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Carbon to Buildings Symposium
Tuesday, May 23
8:15 AM – 6:30 PM EDT
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/carbon-to-buildings-symposium-tickets-33830413678

This symposium will gather leading companies and technical experts in the hydrocarbon, polymer and chemical sectors to discuss the potential benefits of bringing polymeric composites into mainstream use as a base-building and infrastructure technology. Architects, building engineers and building code specialists will contribute their insights as to how composites might be introduced in a much more systematic and effective manner than they have been to date: not merely as replacement component parts for an unchanged tectonic logic, but as holistic structure-envelope building methodologies.

For additional information on this event, please visit:
http://mitei-members.mit.edu/files/members/CarbonBuildingsSymposiumIntro-Short.pdf
For the current agenda (subject to change), please visit:
http://mitei-members.mit.edu/files/members/CarbonBuildingsSymposium-Agenda.pdf.

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Cleantech Women: Breaking the Green Glass Ceiling
Tuesday, May 23
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, 63 Franklin Street, 3rd Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cleantech-women-breaking-the-green-glass-ceiling-tickets-32702769865

Hear from a panel of women breaking through in the clean energy industry and how they're achieving their career goals.

Talk with industry movers and shakers, make professional contacts, share experiences with your peers and get inspired to take the next steps in your career.

Moderator:  Doug Banks, Executive Editor, Boston Business Journal
Panelists:  Rebecca Tepper, Energy Chief, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office
Wendy Rowland, Marketing Assistant, Hancock Software, Successful Women in Clean Energy graduate
Gail Greenwald, Partner, Clean Energy Venture Group

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authors@mit - John Tirman - Dream Chasers: Immigration and the American Backlash
Tuesday, May 23
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: John Tirman
The MIT Press Bookstore presents John Tirman, Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies, discussing his book "Dream Chasers: Immigration and the American Backlash" on Tuesday, May 23, at 5:30 pm at the Bookstore. 

Tirman's discussion of the resistance to immigration and immigrants couldn't be more timely. Illegal immigration continues to roil American politics, the uproar encouraged by the Trump administration. State and local governments have passed more than 300 laws that attempt to restrict undocumented immigrants' access to hospitals, schools, food stamps, and driver's licenses. And yet polls show that a majority of Americans support some kind of path to citizenship for those here illegally. What is going on? In "Dream Chasers," Tirman explains that the resistance is more cultural than political, stemming from fears that the white, Protestant "real America" is changing. 

This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/john-tirman-dream-chasers-immigration-and-the-american-backlash-tickets-32131853238
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): The MIT Press Bookstore
For more information, contact:  The MIT Press Bookstore
617-253-5249
books@mit.edu 

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Opportunity
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Discounted Solar for Somerville

As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.

The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.

Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.

Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.

"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.

Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.

"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.

Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less. 
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.   
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions.  It also saves money for residents.

Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule

For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:

Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville

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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. 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.
https://somervilleyogurtmakingcoop.wordpress.com

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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
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ

Solar map of Cambridge, MA
http://www.mapdwell.com/en/cambridge

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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
http://www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit
@cambenergy 
http://facebook.com/cambridgeenergyalliance

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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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Cambridge Coalition Solar Access Campaign is part of the DOE SunShot Solar in Your Community Challenge with a goal of 40 new solar electric systems installed in Cambridge, with a focus on serving low-to-moderate income communities.

Coalition partners include Green Cambridge, which works to create a more sustainable city and to protect the environment for the health and safety of all, Resonant Energy, a community-based solar developer, Solstice, helping every single household in America go solar, and Sunwealth, a solar investment firm.

More information at http://www.resonant.energy/sap-overview/

hat tip Cambridge Civic Journal 
http://www.rwinters.com

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Resource
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"Greening Our Grid" Report Released April 24, 2017

MAPC is excited to announce the release of “Greening Our Grid,” a fact sheet and a case study detailing MAPC’s strategy to use municipal aggregation to help build new renewable energy in New England. 

“Greening Our Grid” highlights MAPC's work with the City of Melrose as a case study for MAPC's innovative green municipal aggregation strategy. Melrose recently completed its first year of implementation. The city’s results demonstrate that economic and environmental goals can be met simultaneously, and provide a compelling example for others to follow. 

The case study and fact sheet further describe the renewable energy strategy overall, why it can have a real impact on our electricity grid, and MAPC’s program to help other municipalities follow Melrose's lead. Arlington, Brookline, Gloucester, Hamilton, Millis, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester are poised to roll out their green aggregations within the year. 

MAPC believes that municipal aggregation offers an opportunity for communities to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and businesses to transform our electric grid to cleaner sources of energy, while also providing cost savings and price stability for electricity. The fact sheet and case study will be useful tools for cities and towns that are exploring green municipal aggregation, as well as for those that already have active aggregation programs.

Check out “Greening Our Grid” today at http://www.mapc.org/greening-our-grid, and contact Patrick Roche, MAPC Clean Energy Coordinator, at proche@mapc.org for more information about MAPC's program.

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Cambridge Climate Change Game

Extending our work on face-to-face games, the MIT Science Impact Collaborative has developed a digital game on the health impacts of climate change that you can play alone on your computer or on your mobile phone. The game should take about 10-20 minutes. We would appreciate it if you could play the game at your convenience.

Play the game at http://www.doublecoconut.com/climate/

Any and all feedback on the game should be directed to Ella Kim at ella@mit.edu.  

Thank you for your time and consideration!

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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 - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting:  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy:  https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.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/
Harvard Events:  http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment:  http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard:  http://green.harvard.edu/events
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
Take Action MA:  http://takeactionma.com

If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 12 PM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.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) EventsGeo
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html

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Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index

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Index
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Monday, May 8
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4pm  Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global  Atmospheric Change
5:30pm  Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase

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Tuesday May 9
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2pm  IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
3pm  Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
6pm  authors@mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
6pm  How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
7pm  Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick

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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com



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Monday, May 8
———————

Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global  Atmospheric Change
Monday, May 8
4:00 pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker:  Lisa Ainsworth, Associate Professor of Plant Biology, Adjunct Professor of Crop Sciences, USDA ARS Photosynthesis Reseach Unit, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

More information at http://environment.harvard.edu/future-food

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Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
Monday, May 8
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin, Ground Floor Lobby, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewTgXiJxJPckkaS3wH8QodQ_8DXZd6fjvP3B3-cec3Y0OkKw/viewform?c=0&w=1

Come mingle with faculty and friends of the IACS while you learn about the cutting edge work of our master's and secondary field students!

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP here.

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Tuesday May 9
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IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
Tuesday, May 9
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building N52-399, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Pratap Bose
Join us for a design conversation with Pratap Bose, head of design for Tata Motors.

Design Conversation 
The IDC hosts prominent figures from industry to offer thoughts on interdisciplinary design themes. These talks foster an ongoing and Institute-wide discourse on the evolving nature of the processes, tools and outcomes of design.


Web site: http://idc.mit.edu/events/
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0 
Tickets: n/a 
Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Centre
For more information, contact:  Deb Payson
617-324-8125
debp@mit.edu 

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Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
Tuesday, May 9
3:00PM TO 4:00PM
MIT, Building 4-231, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge

16 of the last 17 years were the hottest on record. It is likely Ory Zik's 2018 presentation will start with "17 of the last 18 years were the hottest on record". The world is in the midst of a climate crisis. At the same time, essential policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, clean power plan, CAFE regulations) are either dead or dying. The market must step-in and act. Consumers and investors must hold companies and policymakers accountable. The oxygen of markets is metrics and the climate metric is carbon footprint. So why is it that we are so ‘carbon illiterate’? Why is it that nearly no-one knows the carbon footprint of anything? and what can we do to fix this situation?

A necessary condition is quantitative thinking -- not adjectives and anecdotes like ‘renewable’ and ‘sustainable’ -- but metrics rooted in data and science. 

Greenometry is a new social enterprise whose mission is to readily communicate the carbon footprint of everything. Consistent, accurate, and simple metrics are a necessary condition for behavior change. Greenometry's approach combines behavioral aspects, data, and simple physics. Carbon footprinting should be geospatially tuned and harmonize water and land into a simple unifying metric.

Zik's talk will present the foundations of his thinking, the overall platform that will enable ubiquitous carbon footprinting, and specific results on scope 2 emissions, the inclusion of water, and the carbon footprint of solar energy.

Biography
Award-winning physicist, entrepreneur, and environmentalist, Ory Zik founded Greenometry, a non-profit dedicated to quantifying the climate crisis with ‘numbers not adjectives’. Formerly founder/CEO of Heliofocus and CEO of Energy Points, Zik is the founder of Greenpeace Israel and was the curator of Israel’s national Science Museum.

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authors@mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
Tuesday, May 9
6:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Steven Sloman, Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University, in conversation with Drazen Prelec, Professor of Management Science and Economics at MIT's Sloan School of Management, discussing Steven Sloman's new book, "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone," at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, May 9, at the Bookstore. 

The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. In "The Knowledge Illusion," cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. 

This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/steven-sloman-in-discussion-with-drazen-prelec-the-knowledge-illusion-tickets-31725158804
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): The MIT Press Bookstore
For more information, contact:  The MIT Press Bookstore
253-5249
books@mit.edu 

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CX in the Age of Innovation:  The Convergence of Digital & Physical
Tuesday, May 9 
6:00pm 
Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive Floor 1, Cambridge
RSVP at https://ascentb2bitforumcx.splashthat.com
Customer experience (CX) is a top priority for businesses worldwide and more critical than ever. More than 50 percent of organizations will redirect their investments to CX innovations by 2018, according to Gartner. Considering that an estimated $1.6 trillion is lost as a result of poor service, no company is exempt from offering an exceptional customer journey.

While digital customer engagement is part of the new world order, physical engagement - old-school face-to-face interactions - remain highly relevant as well. Even in this tech-centric age, Accenture research finds that human interaction remains a vital component of customer satisfaction. However, it can be argued that innovations like live video chat, facilitating a real-time connection between a brand and a customer, represent physical engagement - and this is where the lines blur. Is the convergence of the physical and digital worlds the endgame in innovative engagement and CX?

Join us as we explore today's changing CX landscape - a world where excellent customer experience is driven by a company’s ability to engage with its customers, both online and off, to create an emotional connection between the customer and brand. How are forward-thinking businesses leveraging innovation to drive CX? Is direct physical interaction a thing of the past or do consumers prefer dealing with human beings? What challenges are presented as a result of the new world order? We will dive into these questions and more at our next B2B IT Forum on May 9, 2017, at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served

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How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
Tuesday May 9
6-8pm
Boston Public Library, Copley Square in Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forums-on-the-future-tickets-32636238869

Alex Krieger, Moderator, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Dr. Robert A. Brown, Boston University
Dr. Pam Y. Eddinger, Bunker Hill Community College
Dr. Zorica Pantić, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dr. Lee Pelton, Emerson College
Dr. Valerie Roberson, Roxbury Community College

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Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick
Tuesday, May 9
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop,1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge

Valiant Ambition
A surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution, and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. In September 1776, the vulnerable Continental Army under an unsure George Washington (who had never commanded a large force in battle) evacuates New York after a devastating defeat by the British Army. Three weeks later, near the Canadian border, one of his favorite generals, Benedict Arnold, miraculously succeeds in postponing the British naval advance down Lake Champlain that might have ended the war. Four years later, as the book ends, Washington has vanquished his demons and Arnold has fled to the enemy after a foiled attempt to surrender the American fortress at West Point to the British. After four years of war, America is forced to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from within.

About the Author
Nathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a member of the Philbrick literary family. He won the year 2000 National Book Award for his maritime history, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship.
http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com

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Wednesday, May 10
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Get Smaaht: Grid Modernization in Mass
Wed, May 10, 2017
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 16th Floor, "Edison Room,” Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-smaaht-grid-modernization-in-mass-tickets-33395921099
Cost:  $45 – $65

Join us for a trip into the future. Learn about the electric grid that we see today and opportunities for investment on both the wires’ side and buildings’ side. Where is development is needed, planned, and in process? How do grid modernization technologies stack up against each other? How do smart buildings (green buildings) fit into the grid of the future and what opportunities might there be with time of use metering, energy storage financing, and data management?

Let's talk about electric vehicles and the demand / support that they can provide with a smart grid. How is this energy industry transforming? Is analytics as a service going to be a communication with office managers and facility staff or will a cloud-based service possibly control our building? Will batteries be used to level loads on stressed electricity feeders?

How does what we do in Massachusetts compare to progress in other states? California, Texas and Illinois have the lead but what might happen in MA to make our grid the pacesetter?

This is part of our Market Leadership Series where we encourage the professional in the room to drive the conversation and share their questions and perspective for a robust session.

Advisement: This conversation will be led by Chapter member Ben Pignatelli from the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). Ben's presentation will not reflect the views of the DPU nor will he be able to speak on behalf of the Department. His presentation will outline publically available information and the science supporting it.

About the Speaker - Ben Pignatelli:
As a technical staff member in the Electric Power Division at the DPU Ben works on regulatory and market issues associated with energy efficiency, grid modernization, and competitive electricity supply. He has evaluated the MassSave program, is reviewing public utility grid modernization plans, and reviews municipal electricity aggregation plans. Ben also manages regulatory relations with electricity supply companies through investigations, licensing, and market animation initiatives. He has held previous roles with the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the City of Boston. Ben is a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) and holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire in Political Science.

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A Path toZero?  The Role of Net Zero Energy Buildings in Boston
Wednesday, May 10
8:30am - 11:30pm
Boston Medical Center, 670 Albany Street, Albany Auditorium, Boston
RSVP to discussion at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1ovzdz683bbbd2&llr=i7ljcybab
RSVP to building tour http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1p243wd1e51dac&llr=i7ljcybab

Please join A Better City on Wednesday, May 10 at Boston Medical Center for a panel discussion and building tour focused on achieving net zero energy in Boston's commercial real estate buildings!

The first part of this event (8:30-10:45) will consist of a panel discussion about the viability of and pathway towards NZE buildings. Speakers will include experts with first-hand experience in getting to net zero:
John Dalzell (moderator), Senior Architect for Sustainable Development at the Boston Planning & Development Authority
Jill Kaehler, Project Leader & Lead Designer at Behnisch Architekten
Seth Federspiel, Net Zero Energy Planner for the City of Cambridge
Jacob Knowles, Director of Sustainable Design at BR+A Consulting Engineers
Bob Biggio, Senior Vice President of Facilities & Support Services at Boston Medical Center

Afterwards (10:45-11:30), a small group will have the opportunity to tour Boston Medical Center. In 2018, BMC expects to be carbon neutral through a combination of: a newly unveiled co-generation plant; a campus redesign that shrunk the campus' footprint by 400,000 sq ft, saving the campus an estimated $25 million annually on energy and operating costs; a series of HVAC upgrades that reduced emissions 20%; a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Eversource Energy to maximize and partner on energy efficiency upgrades in 2015; and signing on to the A Better City-facilitated collaborative renewable power procurement in 2016 to cover 100% of its electricity usage.

Please note that as spaces are limited for the building tour, separate registration is required for each portion of the event.

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Using Data to Feed Short- and Long-Term Policy Dialogues on Air Quality in India.
Wednesday, May 10
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Sarath Guttikinda, Affiliate Associate Research Professor, Desert Research Institute; Founder/Director of UrbanEmissions.Info
Seminar Abstract: Traditionally, air quality management is based on a “top-down approach” with data coming from a wide network of reliable, representative, and continuous monitoring stations. In India, continuous monitoring capabilities and information dissemination platforms are limited and under-developed; they require a complete overhaul, in order to reach the level of transparency and accuracy required for implementing an air quality and health alert system. As we are waiting for the top-down capacity to continue to develop, the trends of the data collected present a deteriorating picture of air quality and public health. For example, recent comparative studies have highlighted Delhi as the city with the worst air quality in the world, with the number of districts not complying with the national annual ambient standard for PM2.5 increasing from 40% to 60% between 1998 and 2014. The comparisons, however, are not justified because there is a lack of reliable (and sufficient) monitoring data from cities other than Delhi –there could be cities in India whose situation is as bad as Delhi’s that we do not know of yet. We urgently need to disseminate air quality information in some form now, so as to check the pollution loads in regions with limited to no monitoring.

We built two public portals, http://www.indiaairquality.info and http://www.delhiairquality.info, to support air quality information collation and dissemination in India and Delhi, using a “bottom-up” approach with forward linkages to data coming from the monitoring stations to validate, calibrate, and authenticate, as much as possible. The modeling concept is not new in this field. Similar systems are in place in the U.S., E.U., and some Asian cities. The program utilizes state-of-the art meteorology and dispersion modeling platforms, with improved and dynamic emission feeds (estimated based on local surveys, measurements, and satellite feeds, as and when the data is available), and disseminates air quality forecasts for the next 3 days, at the district level in India and at 1-km resolution for Delhi, including hour-by-hour and day-by-day assessment of likely source contributions.

This presentation will focus on delivering an overview of these public portals, data feeds, and policy linkages for short- and long-term air quality management planning for Indian cities.

Speaker Bio: http://www.dri.edu/directory/4902-sarath-guttikunda

China Project Seminar 
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/event/guttikunda170510

Contact Name:  Tiffany Chan
tiffanychan@seas.harvard.edu

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“Oh My Heaven”: How Does Chinese Art Domesticate the Above?
WHEN  Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Eugene Y. Wang, 2016–2017 Shutzer Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS  In this talk, Wang will uncover how heaven is differently imagined in traditional Chinese art by asking why heaven often appears in unexpected places such as tombs and caves and why going up often involves going down. Wang seeks to answer questions related to the Chinese primacy of temporality. Is heaven more of a spatial concept or temporal one in Chinese artistic imagination? Can we imagine heaven, as the traditional Chinese did, as a rotating wheel rather than stable region? What is the cognitive mechanism of heaven sightings in earthly omens? Why is the notion of heaven as the apocalyptic vision relatively alien to the Chinese habit of thought?
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-eugene-y-wang-fellow-presentation

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Thursday, May 11
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LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop
Thursday, May 11
8:00a–5:30p
MIT, Building E14-648, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

The LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop is a two-day event (May 11-12, 2017) showcasing current work and emerging research opportunities at the intersection of smart services and urban infrastructure systems. It will feature top researchers from academia, industry, and government in a series of keynote talks and panel discussions.

Web site: https://lidssmart2017.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
For more information, contact:  Jennifer Donovan
jdonovan@mit.edu 

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Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium
Thursday, May 11
9:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building W-1, 305 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

The Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium will showcase the ongoing MIT research aimed at creating solutions to the social and environmental challenges most relevant to metals and minerals.

Web site: metalsandminerals.mit.edu/symposium
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
This event occurs daily through May 12, 2017.
Sponsor(s): Environmental Solutions Initiative
For more information, contact:  Suzanne Greene
6177155473
segreene@mit.edu 

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Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice 2017 Workshops
Thursday, May 11
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM EDT
BU, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forgiveness-reconciliation-and-restorative-justice-2017-workshops-tickets-33323627868
$0 – $25

"Putting in Place the Skills of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice"
Keynote Speaker: Fr. Leonel Narváez
Fr. Leonel Narváez Gomez worked for 10 years in East Africa and 10 years in Caguan and Putumayo, where he participated in the negotiations with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). He has received many honors and is founder-president of the Foundation for Reconciliation, an institution that has been recognized with peace prizes as UNESCO Education for Peace Award 2006 and the Order of Democracy 2007 granted by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia.

Tickets
$25 General Public
$10 Students/Low Income
Free with BU-ID

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New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML
Thursday, May 11
9:30 AM – 7:00 PM EDT
Microsoft New England R&D, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Join us for hacking the biases, discrimination, and fairness in machine learning, algorithms, big data analytics! Our goal is to have each team develop websites to address these issues.
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the day. The winning team will receive a Surface Pro 4 for the team leader and Xbox One S FIFA '17 bundle for each team member.
Topics are being collected to form teams. Please register and note if you are interested in leading a team. Our teams currently include:
Word Biases, Max Leiserson, Microsoft Research 
When you envision a nurse, a woman most likely pops into your mind. If you imagine an accomplished executive, on the other hand, it's quite likely you're thinking about a man. It's not just you, though. The machine learning algorithms that target ads at us, prune our search results, or sort resumes for recruiters are all plagued by gendered stereotypes.https://papers.nips.cc/paper/6228-man-is-to-computer-programmer-as-woman-is-to-homemaker-debiasing-word-embeddings,
Pre-Trial Fairness, Sam Corbett-Davies, Stanford, 
Courts around the country use machine learned risk scores to guide them in deciding whether defendants should be detained before their trial. There is concern that these scores could be unfair to certain groups, but recent research has shown that different concepts of fairness are mutually exclusive, so policy makers must make trade offs. In this project we'll develop an interactive webpage toexplore the fairness tradeoffs inherent in risk assessments, similar to this work from Google studying fictitious loans. https://5harad.com/papers/fairness.pdf
Political influence: Who has Political Power and How Do You Measure It?, Weiwei Pan, Harvard Institute of Applied Computational Science
The unequal distribution of power among the members of a political system is one of the most pervasive facts of political life." - S. J. Brams (Measuring the Concentration of Power in Political Systems, 1968).
Racial Discrimination in Facial Recognition, Genevieve Patterson, Microsoft Research
Government agencies are rapidly adopting automatic face recognition and matching in law enforcement practices. Unfortunately, commonly used data-driven training algorithms are only as good as the data you feed them. We will explore the discriminatory effects of training deep nets on racially unbalanced collections of face images and how such training data bias can be identified and corrected. 

Other topics to be added ...
AGENDA
9:30am: Doors Open, Check-In, Coffee
10am: Kick-Off & Team Orientations/Hacking
4:30pm: -7pm: Team Presentations, Dinner, Prizes and Awards

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The spatial structure of biodiversity: theory, experiments, and synthesis
Thursday, May 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Luis J. Gilarranz, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich
Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing an unprecedented rate of degradation. This has tremendous consequences for wildlife and for the lives and the economies of all of us. After decades of research we wonder whether we have a good enough understanding of ecological systems to revert the situation. Such understanding should come from a dialogue between theoretical advances and experiments and synthesis that may support or debunk such theories. 

In this talk I’m going to contrast theory against data to show that species interactions, perturbations, and dispersal routs play a big role in determining the health of an ecosystem in a certain location. Moreover, the fact that certain places seem healthier than others allows us to unveil previously undocumented effects of 
anthropogenic activities. Even when ecological communities may seem healthy in terms of the presence and abundance of their constituent species, they may be losing the capacity to withstand further environmental degradation.

Environmental Sciences Seminar Series 
Hosted by: Otto Cordero (ottox@mit.edu) Serguei Saavedra (sersaa@mit.edu)

Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/sergueisaavedra/seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0.00 
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact:  Denise Stewart
6172588685
dstewart@mit.edu 

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From Taft to Trump: How Conservative Media Activists Won -- and Lost -- the GOP
Thursday, May 11
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

As Donald Trump built his lead in the Republican primaries, the editors of National Review came out with an entire "Against Trump" issue, a full-throated -- and ultimately ineffective -- denunciation of the GOP nominee. Soon conservative media personalities were taking sides, culminating in the hiring of Breitbart's Steve Bannon to run the Trump campaign. 

But the centrality of conservative media to presidential politics is not a new development. As early as the 1950s, conservative media activists were organizing third-party tickets, promoting presidential candidates, and encouraging their audiences to cast votes based on ideology rather than party. In this talk, Nicole Hemmer will explain how conservative media activists won the GOP for the right ??? and how in the era of Trump, they lost it. 

Nicole Hemmer is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and a research associate at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Her book, Messengers of the Right, a history of conservative media in the United States, was published in Penn Press in September 2016.

Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/nicole-hemmer-conservative-media-activists-won-lost-gop/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact:  Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw@mit.edu 

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Green Buildings Locally and Statewide
Thursday, May 11
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm  Repeats 
50 Milk Street 18th Floor, "Hemingway” Room, Boston

Legislation and policy drives our industry, but who drives changes in legislation and law?  Join our Advocacy committee as they interpret, suggest updates to, and advocate for advances in laws and policy related to green buildings. All are welcome to join in this high level discussion.  General Questions: How can this committee reach out and build value for practitioners and the larger community? How can we accommodate both detailed issue-based discussions as well as more inviting, general discussions for new members? Make a Plan to Brainstorm, Prioritize and Select 3 Priorities for 2017 (6-6:20) Connecting our priorities to other national / local legislative agendas (USGBC, ILFI)  Roles on Committee, General Communication, Decision Making  Upcoming Events / 2017 Calendar Overview (6:40-7) o Confirm upcoming meetings and activities o Advocacy Roundtable with BSA:  12/8, 8:30AM o Co-Signing Fair – January.  How do we want to participate? o Map out 2017 Activities and Cadence of Internal Meetings and Externally focused events We look forward to seeing you there! Here is some background on what the Chapter has been working on recently: We are still tracking our current priorites:: PACE Clean Energy Financing – we were victorious in attaining PACE for Massachusetts in 2016! Now: how can we bring this new tool to bear on green building projects throughout the Commonwealth? Net Zero Energy building code – how can we  shift the conversation on codes? How can we support municipalities who are leading – like Cambridge with their Net Zero Action Plan? Net Metering Improvements – we were able to engineer reform of net metering in 2016, but we know it was a temporary fix. How do we position our advocacy efforts to ensure we see progress in early 2017?   Also, we are tracking other initiatives including: Building Energy Benchmarking (BERDO & BEUDO) The MA “Stretch Code” for energy efficiency The greening of the MLS and the residential market transformation Energy efficiency education

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The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Natural World—and Us
Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford St., Cambridge
Thursday, May 11
6:00PM
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Richard O. Prum, William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology and Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.

Can adaptation by natural selection truly account for everything we see in nature? How do animal mating displays and mate choice drive evolutionary change? What insights can they offer about the evolution of human sexuality? Drawing from his new book, The Evolution of Beauty, Richard Prum will consider Charles Darwin’s long-neglected theory of sexual selection, in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons is an independent engine of evolutionary change. In a reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, Prum will reveal how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the natural world.

Contact:  hmnh@hmsc.harvard.edu

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Amazing Aquatic Athletes in the Anthropocene
Thursday, May 11
7pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX Theatre, One Aquarium Wharf, Boston

Jodie Rummer, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Globally, coral reefs are at risk from human-induced stressors – such as ocean warming, acidification, and hypoxia – now more than at any time in recorded history. Dramatic effects on fish performance, distribution, and overall ecosystem health are predicted. While the evolutionary success of fish is credited to their adaptations to challenging environmental conditions, whether they can keep pace with the large-scale, rapid changes plaguing their habitats today is not known. Coral reef fishes may be at greater risk as they diversified during a time of relative stable environmental conditions, and today’s rapidly changing conditions may heighten their vulnerability.

Through her research, Dr. Jodie Rummer is tracking metabolic and swimming performance of fishes under climate-change relevant conditions, across development and species, and over multiple generations. This information is crucial for making predictions as to which species and/or populations may be most at risk from climate change and whether the fishes’ long evolutionary history will be enough to protect them from future changes in their habitat.

More information at http://www.neaq.org/learn/lectures/upcoming-lectures/

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Friday, May 12
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Bangladesh Sustainable Development Conference 2017 at Harvard University
WHEN  Friday, May 12, 2017
WHERE  Harvard University, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Conferences, Environmental Sciences, Information Technology, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program
SPEAKER(S)  Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
DIRECTED BY  Mohammed Yousuf
COST  Free and open to public
TICKET WEB LINK  http://www.isdiworld.com
CONTACT INFO mohammed_yousuf@dfci.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Bangladesh SDG Conference on May 12, 2017
Achieving SDG - Sustainable Development Goals through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment
The organizing committee of the annual Harvard University Conference on Bangladesh invites academics, policymakers, practitioners, and experts to participate in the seminar on ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment’ that will convene on Friday, May 12, 2017 at Harvard University. The day-long seminar will be organized by the International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) in cooperation with the SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.
The objective of this year’s conference is to bring together entrepreneurs, policymakers, and philanthropists who seek to accelerate the growth of Bangladesh through entrepreneurship, investment, and commerce. These can be powerful mechanisms for alleviating poverty and generating prosperity, which are important preconditions for achieving the SDGs. Moreover, they provide paths for empowering women, upgrading workforces, and transforming the rural economy. In this conference, we will explore the steps required to encourage these three vital facets of the development goals.
Our keynote speakers among others are Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
The time is: Friday, May 12, 2017; 8:30am to 5:30pm;
The venue: Harvard Law School, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
The deliberations will explore key topics including: 1) SDGs and Social Protection and Labor Standards; 2) Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals; 3) SDGs: Major Challenges and Opportunities for Bangladesh; 4) Inclusive Finance and Investment for SDGs; 5) Affordable and Clean Energy: Prospect, Achievements and Challenges; 6) Infrastructure Development for Commerce and Industries and 7) Information and Communications Technologies: Accelerated Journey towards Middle Income Status.
Contact information: Mohammed Iqbal Yousuf, mohammed_yousuf@dfci.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.isdiworld.com

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NE Machine Learning Day 2017
Friday, May 12
9:30am - 5pm
Microsoft New England Research Center, Horace Mann Conference Room, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge

About
The sixth annual New England Machine Learning Day will be Friday, May 12, 2017, at Microsoft Research New England, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. The event will bring together local academics and researchers in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and their applications. There will be a lively poster session during lunch. Submit posters at https://aka.ms/nemlposter by April 24.

Interested in helping improve fairness and reduce bias/discrimination in ML? Attend New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML, the day before, Thursday May 11, at the same location.

Schedule
9:55–10:00  Opening remarks
10:00–10:30  Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Intelligent robots redux
10:35–11:05  Alexander Rush, Harvard University
Structured attention networks
11:10–11:40  Lester Mackey, Microsoft Research
Measuring sample quality with Stein’s method
11:40–1:45  Lunch and posters
1:45–2:15  Thomas Serre, Brown University
What are the visual features underlying human versus machine vision?
2:20–2:50  David Sontag, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Causal inference via deep learning
2:50–3:20  Coffee break
3:20–3:50  Roni Khardon, Tufts University
Effective variational inference in non-conjugate 2-level latent variable models
3:55–4:25  Tina Eliassi-Rad, Northeastern University
Learning, mining and graphs
4:30–5:00  Erik Learned-Miller, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bootstrapping intelligence with motion estimation

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Starr Forum: US & Mexico in the Trump Era
Friday, May 12, 2017
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Why build fences when we can build bridges? 
Speakers:  Lourdes Melgar, CIS Wilhelm Fellow and Mexico's former deputy secretary of energy for hydrocarbons. 
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican Ambassador to the US (2007-2013). He is a Non Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the USC Annenberg Public Diplomacy School. 

Free & open to the public | Lunch served 
Can't attend in person? Watch it on Facebook live or on-demand on YouTube. 
For more information or accessibility accommodations please contact starrforum@mit.edu.

CIS Starr Forum 
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.

Web site: https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-us-mexico-trump-era
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT-Mexico Program
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
starrforum@mit.edu 

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PSFC Seminar: High temperature superconductors: advantages and key challenges in their deployment for high-field magnets and large scale applications
Friday, May 12
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge

Plasma Science and Fusion Center Seminar Series
Speaker: Luisa Chiesa
After 25 years of development, several high temperature superconductors (HTS) are becoming engineering materials commercially available in long-length wires. Those conductors can carry enormous electrical current in strong magnetic fields while meeting various other challenges. Such characteristics enable the construction of a broad spectrum of devices useful for basic science, medicine, and energy. 

In this talk, the state-of-art manufacturing, properties and challenges of key HTS conductors will be discussed with particular focus on REBCO coated conductors. The electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties and failure mechanisms important for constructing devices will be discussed and examples of large scale projects employing those materials will be given to illustrate the positive impact those new materials could have in future generation???s magnets.

Web site: Tufts University
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact:  Paul Riven berg
617-253-8101
rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu 

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Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Organic
Friday, May 12
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-160, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Join us for a fireside chat with Gary Hirschberg, founder of Stonyfield Farms, and Donna Levin, EIR at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship!

Web site: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free, register online
Tickets: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
For more information, contact:  Greg Wymer
617-253-8653
trustcenter@mit.edu 

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Saturday, May 13
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Green/Rainbow Party 2017 State Convention
Saturday, May 13
First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, MA
Please pre-register at http://www.green-rainbow.org
Walk-in registration - cash or check only
Registration fee includes vegan or vegetarian lunch, and is sliding scale.

Jacqui Patterson, Keynote speaker, is the Director of the NAACP
Environmental & Climate Justice Program
Presentation. She will address environmental injustice, including how the
proliferation of climate change has a disproportionate impact on com-
munities of color and low income communities in the U.S. and around
the world.

Patricia Montes, Executive Director of Centro Presente, will speak
about immigrant needs and how the Centro Presente organization pro-
motes self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American 
community state-wide.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Workshops
Election related issues, including Rank Choice Voting, lead by Voters
Choice - MA
Activism related issues, including climate issues and immigration
Brian Cady

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Watch City Steampunk Festival 
Saturday, May 13
10:00am to 5:00pm
Common, Waltham

Join dozens and dozens of exceptional craft vendors, dozens and dozens of talented performers of all kinds, delicious food and drink, and more for a day of steampunk revelry like no other!

The Watch City Steampunk Festival, centered on Waltham Common, is the largest outdoor steampunk festival in America, and it's FREE! Come immerse yourself for a day in the extraordinary, time-shifting, mind-expanding culture and aesthetic of neo-Victorian fashion crossed with retro-futuristic technology. 

See you in Downtown Waltham on Saturday, May 13, 2017!

More information at https://www.watchcityfestival.com

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Sunday, May 14
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JFK:  A Vision for America
Sunday, May 14
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/stephen_kennedy_smith_and_douglas_brinkley/
Cost:  $43.25 (online only, book included) - On Sale April 11, 2017 $5.00 - On Sale April 25, 2017

STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY in conversation with SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND moderated by FREDRIK LOGEVALL

Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, editors of JFK: A Vision for America, for a panel discussion on this new compendium of JFK’s most important speeches. The book's editors will be joined by contributors Ambassador SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND for a discussion moderated by historian FREDRIK LOGEVALL. The event will include a book signing with the editors.

About JFK: A Vision for America
Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, here is the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant speeches, accompanied by commentary and reflections by leading American and international figures—including Senator Elizabeth Warren, David McCullough, Kofi Annan, and the Dalai Lama—and edited by JFK’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith and renowned historian Douglas Brinkley. Combined with over seven hundred documentary photos, it tells the story, in words and pictures, of JFK’s life and presidency, and depicts his compelling vision for America.

JFK brings together in one volume John F. Kennedy’s greatest speeches alongside essays by America’s top historians, analysis from leading political thinkers, and personal insights from preeminent writers and artists. Here is JFK at his best—thought-provoking, inspiring, eloquent, and wise—on a number of wide-ranging topics, including civil rights, the race to the moon, the environment, immigration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more. JFK demonstrates the deep relevance of his words today and his lasting power and influence as an outstanding American leader and orator.
Elegantly designed and enriched by more than 500 photographs and facsimiles of Kennedy’s marginalia on drafts of speeches, his notes from important meetings, letters, and other fascinating documents, JFK is a major contribution to American history.

The august list of contributors includes Secretary John Kerry, Ambassador Samantha Power, Congressman John Lewis, Senator John McCain, Senator Elizabeth Warren, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Robert Redford, Conan O’Brien, Dave Eggers, Gloria Steinem, Don DeLillo, David McCullough, George Packer, Colum McCann, Michael Beschloss, Robert Dallek, David Kennedy, Ted Widmer, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Drew Faust, Tariq Ramadan, Pastor Rick Warren, Jonathan Alter, E. J. Dionne, Ron Suskind, Paul Krugman, Kofi Annan, Governor Jerry Brown, Paul Theroux, Jorge Domínguez, and many others.

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Gravity Hill Newsreels: 12 Short Observations About Occupy Wall Street
WHEN  Sunday, May 14, 2017, 7 – 8:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
OPEN TO Public and Harvard community
CATEGORY  Film
LIBRARY LOCATION  Harvard Film Archive
DETAILS  As a natural outgrowth of his ongoing project filming life on the streets of New York and reflecting on the politics of such public spaces, Cohen started making frequent trips to the Occupy Wall Street home base in Zucotti Park in October and November of 2011. Some of the twelve short films he shot there include moments of daily life in the base camp, some document meetings and marches, and some capture police raids and the dismantling of the encampment.
LINK http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2017marmay/cohen.html#newsreel

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Monday, May 15
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OpenSec 2017
Monday, May 15
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM EDT
Hatch Fenway, Landmark Center, 401 Park Drive, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opensec-2017-tickets-32267597252
Cost:  $0 – $18.01

Come hear from Boston's open source security community in May! Whether you're a open-source contributor, marketer or person interested in the security space our single track conference will offer engaging panels, great networking and a keynote speaker to get you away from the office on monday!

Tentative Panels:
What is Open Source security?
Abstract: Open Source projects, however rough around the edges, often provide the backbone to many cyber solutions and products on the market. How are these companies working with the OS community and building on existing projects? How can team's best leverage these projects into their existing workflows?
Too many products, Too little time: How are companies evaluating new solutions?
Abstract: Everyday it seems the realm of Cybersecurity products continues to produce new players. From endpoint detection, threat hunting and security automation the list of potential solutions grows. How are companies evaluating new products that are shown to their teams and what bridges the gap from “That’s interesting” to “We need that” in the mind of decision makers.
Joining in: How you can get into Cyber
Abstract: Hear where the opportunities lie across the cybersecurity community and what needs companies are hoping more would learn. SOCs, security teams and startups are all feeling a talent crunch. Whether you’re a hardcore opensource contributor or a strong marketer, companies across Boston are eagerly looking for talent.

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Lisa Beal, RSMAS: U Miami 
Monday, May 15
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT Building 54-923 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge

Broadly, my research interests are in large scale ocean circulation and the role of the oceans in climate and climate change. In particular, the measurement of Western Boundary Currents, such as the Agulhas Current, in terms of their structure, transports, water masses, and mixing, and the estimation of basin-wide thermohaline fluxes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. I use a variety of oceanographic instrumentation, including lowered and shipboard acoustic velocity profilers, and moored arrays of current meters and CTDs (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth). I study the role of the Agulhas system in the broader context of regional and global climate through analysis of ocean eddy-resolving coupled climate models. My service work revolves around increasing the diversity of our scientific community, including the retention of women in oceanography, and the advancement of capacity and resources to support a sustained measuring program of the Greater Agulhas System off South Africa.

About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm in 54-923. Lunch is provided after the seminars to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. 2016/2017 co-ordinators: Tom Beucler (tbeucler@mit.edu), Deepa Rao (drao@mit.edu), Madeleine Youngs (myoungs@mit.edu) and Catherine Wilka (cwilka@mit.edu)

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The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools - joint with IO
Monday, May 15
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Glenn Ellison and Parag Pathak (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Microeconomic Applications
For more information, contact:
economics calendar

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Access to Justice Through Technology
Monday, May 15
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-and-Cambridge-Legal-Hackers/events/238603262/

Hello Legal Hackers, 
Thanks again to everyone who attended the Civic Engagement MeetUp last Thursday. As usual, we had great Q&A sessions and the venue had to kick us out!

Our next MeetUp will take place on May 15, 2017 from 6pm to 7 30pm. Location and panel at Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston, MA. Please save the date and RSVP!

Our topic: Access to Justice through technology. It seems apparent that many people do not have adequate access to the judicial system. From criminal justice to immigration, from predatory lending to employment issues, the burden on the underserved is severe. How can technology help? There are many interesting initiatives, including apps that help avoid parking tickets or create immigration applications, to video conferencing, to crowdfunding public interest lawsuits. We might also finally learn what access to justice really means!

As usual, we expect a lively panel with members of the judiciary, the legal and the tech community:  

Marc Lauritsen will join us to speak about his involvement in the Access to Justice Commission's latest project and his work on lawhelpinteractive, which aided millions.

Quentin Steenhuis of the Greater Boston Legal Services will tell us about combining his roles as an advocate and a systems administrator together with his view on the opportunities for the technology to assist those needing most help.

More participants will be announced soon!

Come to learn, to discuss, and to debate with us!

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Hostage:  Guy Delisle in conversation with HILLARY L. CHUTE
Monday, May 15
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store welcomes cartoonist and animator GUY DELISLE—author of Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen—and comics scholar HILLARY L. CHUTE—author of Outside the Box, Graphic Women, and Disaster Drawn—for a discussion of Delisle's latest book, Hostage.
About Hostage

How does one survive when all hope is lost?
In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts André’s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation.

Marking a departure from the author’s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted color washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments.

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Tuesday, May 16
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MIPS Seminar:  Air Pollution and Brain Development:  Attributable Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders
WHEN  Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
WHERE  HSPH BLdg I, Rm 1302, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Molecular & Integrative Physiological Sciences, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S)  Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences, U of Rochester School of Medicine

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Billionaires Bash! "Celebrate" PRIM Support for Trump's Agenda!
Tuesday, May 16 
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
MA PENSION FUND (PRIM) OFFICE, 84 STATE STREET, BOSTON
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/294846774269250/

Push Back Against Trump and Tillerson!

JOIN THE BILLIONAIRES BASH!
A Satirical "Celebration" of the MA Pension Fund's Continued Investment in and Complicity with Fossil Fuel Companies that are Disrupting the Climate
(Part of the May 2107 Global Divestment Mobilization)

SPEAKERS/GUESTS: DIVESTMENT BILL SPONSOR, MARJORIE DECKER; FOSSIL FUEL FREE INVESTMENT EXPERT BOB MASSIE; THE SECOND LINE SOCIAL AID AND PLEASURE SOCIETY BRASS BAND

PRIM is the board that manages the Massachusetts pension fund. Just like Donald Trump they have billions of dollars and they love investing in fossil fuels! As billionaires, we think that's great so we're throwing a party to celebrate it: Billionaires Bash #PRIM4Trump!

We will be billionaires and fossil fuel executives dancing as the world burns!
Wear your best tuxedos, top hats, gowns and tiaras.

But seriously, the message will be that PRIM must dump its toxic assets.  
The science is clear. 
The moral arguments are compelling. 
The financial future of thousands of pensioners is at stake.
The next generation is counting on us.

The PRIM (Pension Reserve Investment Management Board) has invested billions of state employees’ and teachers’ pension money in fossil fuel funds, including: 
almost $2 billion in coal, gas and oil, 
$200 million in Exxon Mobil, and 
over $50 million in the companies building the Dakota Access Pipeline

PRIM has steadfastly refused to consider divesting from these companies and it is time to shine a spotlight on their complicity with climate degradation and disruption. Experts agree that most fossil fuel reserves must remain underground if we are to have any chance of avoiding the most catastrophic results of climate change. Now more than ever - with the CEO of Exxon Mobil as Secretary of State and climate deniers in high office - we must take a stand here in Massachusetts. JOIN US ON MAY 16! Stay tuned for more details.

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Massachusetts Clean Energy Day
Tuesday, May 16
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massachusetts-clean-energy-day-tickets-32635894840
Cost:  $0 – $250

Massachusetts Clean Energy Day will showcase the growing vitality of the clean energy industry and the importance of consistent policy support as a means of catalyzing the state’s - and our region’s - economy. 
Tentative Agenda
11:00 am - 2:00 pm  Clean Energy Business Showcase * (Open to the Public - please register as General Admission)
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm  Speaking Program and Clean Energy Champion Awards
Secreatary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew A. Beaton
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm  Small Group Meetings with Key Legislators (NECEC Members only)

*NECEC Members have the unique opportunity to exhibit at the State House! Participation in the Showcase is strongly encouraged, even if your team will be participating in legislative meetings during the afternoon. Showcase tables offer additional visibility throughout the day to additional Legislators, legislative staff and members of the public.

Legislative Meetings and Exhibition Space are open only to NECEC Members in good standing. Learn more about NECEC Membership and join today!

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Saving the Rainforest: A Personal Journey - Practical Approaches Chucanti, a Cloud Forest in Panama
Tuesday, May 16
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HUH Seminar Room, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Guido Berguido, Founder, Asociación Adopta el Bosque Panamá
Internationally renowned ornithologist and hailed by conservation biologists as a beacon of hope for saving tropical rainforests, Guido Berguido is a scientist on a mission to save Panama’s rainforests before unknown species are driven to extinction.

Herbaria Special Seminar 
http://huh.harvard.edu/event/huh-special-seminar-guido-berguido

Contact Name:  huh-requests@oeb.harvard.edu

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Talk: Aki Sasamoto: Talk on Good Food
WHEN  Thursday, May 18, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Level 3, CRC/bookshop, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; Cambridge Arts Council
SPEAKER(S)  Aki Sasamoto is a New York-based, Japanese artist, working with sculpture, dance, video, sound, and installation. Her installations are arrangements of sculpturally altered found objects, in which Sasamoto weaves constructed narratives that are personal yet open to relation and reflection. As part of her practice she collaborates with musicians, choreographers, scientists and scholars, and plays multiple roles of dancer, sculptor, or director.

Aki Sasamoto's recent performances include "Food Rental" at the High Line, New York (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour/The Last Call" at Parasophia, Japan (2015); and "Sunny in the Furnace" at The Kitchen, New York (2014). Sasamoto has participated in solo exhibitions such as "Delicate Cycle," SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York (2016); "No Choice," Harmony Murphy Gallery, Los Angeles (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour," JTT, New York (2014). Additionally she has participated in group exhibitions such as the 3rd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2016); 11th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (2016), "Roppongi Crossing 2013: Out of Doubt" at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2013); "A LIKENESS HAS BLISTERS" at CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2012); Gwangju Biennale 2012, Gwangju, South Korea (2012); and the "Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2010).
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO  ccva@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Sasamoto will discuss the use of food and metaphor in art making. This talk is in collaboration with the Cambridge Arts Council exhibition, "Common Exchange," on view May 14–Sep 30, 2017.
LINK  http://ccva.fas.harvard.edu/aki-sasamoto-talk-on-good-food

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Dr. James O’Connell, author of Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
Tuesday, May 16 
6 – 7:30 p.m.
COMMONWEALTH SALON, CENTRAL LIBRARY IN COPLEY SQUARE, 700 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON

Three decades ago, James O’Connell, MD, 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 for the city’s homeless men, women, and children—Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). Dr. O’Connell thought he’d put in a few years, and then get back on track with his “real” career. But along the way, he fell in love with the challenges of homeless medicine, his patients, and their stories, now collected in Stories from the Shadows. O’Connell tells the history of homeless medicine in Boston, largely through the treatment, triumphs, and tragedies of some of his most memorable  patients.  

As president of BHCHP with an active practice working with people who live outside, Dr. O’Connell has become an international expert on homeless medicine, helping transform it into a highly respected specialty with a strong research base.

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How Glaciers Affect Earth and Climate
Tuesday, May 16 
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont

Jack Ridge, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Glacial and Quaternary Geology, Geomorphology, Tufts University 
North American Glacial Varve Project

Professor Ridge is an expert on glacial cycles, with emphasis on how the last deglaciation in the northeastern U.S. influenced climate in North America. This investigation involves a reconstruction of the changes in the sediments left by ice sheets (varves) over centuries. The varve records provide crucial information about climate changes over long periods of time. The varve records also indicate when ancient habitation was possible or not. 

More information at http://www.scienceforthepublic.org/coming-events/may-16-how-glaciers-affect-earth-and-climate

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Playsentations - 2.00b Toy Product Design Presentations
Tuesday, May 16
7:30p–10:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Join us for Toy Product Design Presentations! 16 teams will present their original toy concepts based on the theme "Animate!" Afterwards, there will be opportunities to test the toys and good ole' cookies + milk!

Web site: http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/index.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free 
Sponsor(s): 2.00b Toy Product Design
For more information, contact:  2.00b-ta@mit.edu 

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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 17
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, May 17
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM
Pret A Manger, 101 Arch Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-30734222888

Join us every month for Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals for networking, discussion and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time between 7:30 and 8:30 am.

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Innovations in American Government Awards Finalists Presentations
WHEN  Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 1 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Award Ceremonies
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
COST  Free
DETAILS  Government Works: We'll Show You How
Join us to hear each of the finalist programs for the Innovations in American Government Awards make a presentation to the Innovations National Selection Committee in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The Innovations in American Government Awards program is a significant force in recognizing and promoting excellence and creativity in the public sector. Through its awards competition, the program provides concrete evidence that government can work to improve the quality of life for citizens and that it deserves greater public trust.
LINK  http://ash.harvard.edu/event/innovations-american-government-awards-finalists-presentations-0

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Learning Deeply at Scale: The Challenge of Our Times
WHEN  Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Jal Mehta, 2016–2017 Evelyn Green Davis Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; Associate Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO  events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS   In this talk, Mehta will discuss his book in progress, “The Chastened Dream,” which is a history of how publicly oriented professional schools—education, public health, public policy, and urban planning and design—have sought to couple science with social policy to achieve social progress. The book investigates the origins of that dream in the Progressive Era, the challenges it faced across the 20th century, and how it might be remade to anchor a renewed vision of liberalism in the 21st century.
LINK  https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-jal-mehta-fellow-presentation

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ArtScience Talk:  Seeing Is Believing: Parallel Lives of Chefs and Scientists
Wednesday, May17
6pm - 7:30pm
Doors 6:00pm / Talk 6:30pm  
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artscience-talks-le-lab-benjamin-wolfe-scott-jones-tickets-34001962786

ArtScience Talks @ Le Lab: Benjamin Wolfe & Scott Jones

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DesignX Pitch and Demo Night
Wednesday, May 17
6:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 9-255, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The eight ventures of DesignX's Spring 2017 Cohort will be pitching their businesses and showcasing their technology.

Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): DesignX
For more information, contact:  Gilad Rosenzweig
617-999-5370
giladr@mit.edu 

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Composting Together
Tuesday, May 23 
6-7:30PM
Eagle Hill Community Garden | 343 Border Street, East Boston

Learn to make your own black gold! Making compost allows you to recycle waste products into a valuable soil amendment. We'll go over ingredients, methods, and containers for making great compost in your community garden or backyard without creating pest problems.

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Let's Talk about Impeachment: Protect our Constitution
Wednesday, May 17
7pm - 9pm
Pierce Elementary School Auditorium, 50 School Street, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-impeachment-tickets-34002952747

Learn why Congress should start an impeachment investigation now in conversation with Ben Clements, Chair of Free Speech for People and Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People.

Inform yourself in advance of the Town Meeting vote:
Town Meeting members in Brookline will vote on whether to pass a Resolution in Support of a Congressional Investigation regarding the Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump at the May 23 Town Meeting.
Speakers:
Ben Clements, Chair of the Board for Free Speech for People
Ron Fein, Legal Director of Free Speech for People
Our speakers wrote the Jan 2017 Newsweek article Will Trump be Allowed to Defy the Constitution?
http://www.newsweek.com/will-trump-be-allowed-defy-constitution-547759
For more information on the Brookline Resolution, see this article in the Huffington Post:  https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#search/huffin/15b8f1f03eb2

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Exceptional America
Wednesday, May 17
7:00pm    
First Church, 3 Church Street, Cambridge

What divides Americans from the world and from each other?
Stanford Law professor Mugambi Jouet will discuss his new book Exceptional America which tackles why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war.

Why is America so polarized? How does American exceptionalism explain these social changes?

Mugambi Jouet teaches at Stanford Law School and is a frequent media commentator. His research focuses on U.S. criminal law, constitutional law, and policymaking from a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing history, sociology, political science, and the humanities.

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One in a Million: The battle against antibiotic resistance
Wednesday, May 17
7pm - 9pm
Harvard, Pfizer Hall, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge

More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/

This event will be streamed.

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Thursday, May 18
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STEX Workshop-Batteries and Beyond: Energy Storage Innovation
Thursday, May 18
8:00a–11:30a
MIT, Building E90, 1 Main Street, Cambridge

STEX Workshop

Web site: https://startupexchange.mit.edu/startupexchange/html/index.html#events
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Office of Corporate Relations/ILP
For more information, contact:  Trond Undheim
617-253-8983
Undheim@ilp.mit.edu 

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Equity and Collective Impact in Systems Change
WHEN Thursday, May 18, 2017, 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
WHERE Askwith Hall, 13 Appian Way
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Education Redesign Lab
Harvard Graduate School of Education
SPEAKER(S)  Dr. Michael McAfee, President of PolicyLink
TICKET WEB LINK  https://hpe.hobsonsradius.com/ssc/eform/I7B04m0zzx6G0x670Gd78F.ssc
TICKET INFO  Register online
CONTACT INFO  Jessica Boyle
Education Redesign Lab
jessica_boyle@gse.harvard.edu
DETAILS   Dr. Michael McAfee, President of PolicyLink, has led the effort to make President Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods initiative a reality in communities across the United States. Please join the Education Redesign Lab and cities participating in the Lab's By All Means initiative for Dr. McAfee’s keynote speech entitled "Equity and Collective Impact in Systems Change," which will focus on the work of the Promise Neighborhood Institute to build stronger systems of educational support and opportunity for children.
LINK  https://www.facebook.com/events/1244163169014869/

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Panel discussion on AI & the Future of Healthcare
Thursday, May 18
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Venture Café @ CIC, 5th floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-discussion-on-ai-the-future-of-healthcare-tickets-34053329425

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are revolutionizing all industries, and one that can benefit enormously from these technologies is the medical sector. ML can enable cost reduction, an increasement in efficiency, and process optimalization. Ultimately, this can improve patient experiences, and save lives.
Join us in this panel discussion on the Future of Healthcare, where we foster a dialogue between technical and medical experts, and discuss solutions for tomorrow’s hospitals.

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Friday, May 19
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Measuring Methane Emissions from Dairies
Friday, May 19
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Claudia Arndt, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/94976

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What Made Me Who I Am
Friday. May 19
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/bernie_swain_and_doris_kearns_goodwin/
Cost:  $27.25 (online only, book-included) - On Sale April 11, 2017 $5.00 - On Sale April 25, 2017

Bernie Swain and Doris Kearns Goodwin
Harvard Book Store welcomes Washington Speakers Bureau co-founder BERNIE SWAIN and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN for a discussion of Swain's book, What Made Me Who I Am—a collection of profiles on thirty-four remarkable leaders, including Goodwin, and the influences that shaped them. A signing with both authors will follow the discussion.
About What Made Me Who I Am

Starting a business is a wonderfully naïve venture. Only a fortunate few will survive—and very few of those who thrive will have something special to say about failure, success, and leadership.  

Bernie Swain is one of those few very fortunate people. He quit his job in 1980 to start a lecture agency with his wife and a friend. By the end of their first rocky year—just as his savings were running out—Swain's first revenues trickled in. He began signing every speaker with a handshake; this proved to be the hallmark of trust that helped accelerate the company's growth. Years later, his roster of speakers would be the greatest in history since America's first agency represented a host of notables such as Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglass.  
The best of Swain's fortunes turned out to be the speakers themselves because these remarkable leaders had become his personal friends. What Made Me Who I Am captures the leadership transformations of 34 of those friends—from Doris Kearns Goodwin to Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw to Tom Brokaw, and Tony Blair to Dave Barry. This assembly of people defines a generation. What were their most powerful influences? Defining moments? Decisions that contributed the most to their character and accomplishments?

Swain captures answers to these questions and more in an inspiring, practical collection of true-life stories for leaders today. What Made Me Who I Am is also a terrific gift book for graduates and others who are just starting out in life.

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Invisible Nation
Friday, May 19
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
More than 2.5 million children are homeless in the United States every year. In every state, children are living packed in with relatives, or in cars, or motel rooms, or emergency shelters, the only constant being too many people in too little space. In a vividly-written narrative, experienced journalist Richard Schweid takes us on a spirited journey through this "invisible nation," giving us front-row dispatches. Based on in-depth reporting from five major cities, Invisible Nation looks backward at the historical context of family homelessness, as well as forward at what needs to be done to alleviate this widespread, although often hidden, poverty. Invisible Nation is a riveting must-read for anyone who wants to know what is happening to the millions of families living at the bottom of the economy.

Richard Schweid is a journalist and documentary reporter. He is theauthor of nine nonfiction books, including Che's Chevrolet, Fidel's Oldsmobile: On the Road in Cuba, Hot Peppers: The Story of Cajuns and Capsicum, Consider the Eel: A Natural and Gastronomic History, and The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore. He has also produced or reported more than two dozen documentaries for Catalonian public television, including the Oscar-nominated Balseros.

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Sunday, May 21
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SWAPFEST
Sunday, May 21
9:00a–2:00p
MIT, Albany Street Garage and Lots, Cambridge

MIT's monthly Hi Tech, Computer, Electronics and Ham Radio Fleamarket. 
Buy Sell or Swap all things nerdly. 
Held the third Sunday of each month April thru October. 
Rain or Shine covered space is available for all sellers. 
In the Albany St Garage and adjacent lot. 
On Albany St between Mass Ave and Main St, Cambridge. 
$6 Buyers admission from 9AM to 2PM. 
Free for MIT and Harvard Undergraduates with current ID

Web site: www.swapfest.us
Open to: the general public
Cost: $6
This event occurs on the 3rd Sunday of every month through October 15, 2017.
Sponsor(s): MIT Radio Society, Electronic Research Society, MIT, UHF Repeater Assn. W1XM, MIT
For more information, contact:  Mitchell Berger
617-253-3776
w1mx-officers@mit.edu

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Superpower Discovery Session - "Stop Playing Small"
Sunday, May 21
9:30a–5:30p
MIT, Building E25-117, 45 Carleton, Cambridge
RSVP at  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Cost: $90-120 (after 70% discount using MITHERO)

Speaker: Konstantin Mitgutsch & Lena Robinson, Lightspace
We all have Superpowers - personal, often surprising strengths that lie at the core of who we are - but we rarely live them in our everyday life, our jobs and relationships. Many people don't know what their Superpowers actually are. They are still hidden and have yet to be discovered. 

This is exactly what Superpower Discovery is for. In our workshops, we work with unconventional methods from game design and creative sectors to get to the bottom of everyone's Superpowers. In the course of the whole-day session participants create their very own card set, which documents their individual journey and can be used for all further explorations. The goal is to live your Superpowers!

Superpower Discovery is run by Light Space, a Vienna-based organization providing creative tools that support people to uncover and dive into their deepest strengths. We run workshops and retreats internationally, for individuals and teams. 

Find our Superpower Discovery Quiz, more information and other events here: http://www.lightspace.io

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Open to: the general public
Cost: $90-120 (after 70% discount using MITHERO)
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/superpower-discovery-session-mit-cambridge-tickets-32184301111?ref=estw%20
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT Game Lab
For more information, contact:  Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw@mit.edu  

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Tuesday, May 23
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authors@mit - John Tirman - Dream Chasers: Immigration and the American Backlash
Tuesday, May 23
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: John Tirman
The MIT Press Bookstore presents John Tirman, Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies, discussing his book "Dream Chasers: Immigration and the American Backlash" on Tuesday, May 23, at 5:30 pm at the Bookstore. 

Tirman's discussion of the resistance to immigration and immigrants couldn't be more timely. Illegal immigration continues to roil American politics, the uproar encouraged by the Trump administration. State and local governments have passed more than 300 laws that attempt to restrict undocumented immigrants' access to hospitals, schools, food stamps, and driver's licenses. And yet polls show that a majority of Americans support some kind of path to citizenship for those here illegally. What is going on? In "Dream Chasers," Tirman explains that the resistance is more cultural than political, stemming from fears that the white, Protestant "real America" is changing. 

This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.

Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/john-tirman-dream-chasers-immigration-and-the-american-backlash-tickets-32131853238
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): The MIT Press Bookstore
For more information, contact:  The MIT Press Bookstore
617-253-5249
books@mit.edu 

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Opportunity
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Discounted Solar for Somerville

As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.

The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.

Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.

Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.

"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.

Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.

"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.

Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less. 
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.   
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions.  It also saves money for residents.

Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule

For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:

Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville

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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. 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.
https://somervilleyogurtmakingcoop.wordpress.com

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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
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ

Solar map of Cambridge, MA
http://www.mapdwell.com/en/cambridge

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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
http://www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit
@cambenergy 
http://facebook.com/cambridgeenergyalliance

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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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Cambridge Coalition Solar Access Campaign is part of the DOE SunShot Solar in Your Community Challenge with a goal of 40 new solar electric systems installed in Cambridge, with a focus on serving low-to-moderate income communities.

Coalition partners include Green Cambridge, which works to create a more sustainable city and to protect the environment for the health and safety of all, Resonant Energy, a community-based solar developer, Solstice, helping every single household in America go solar, and Sunwealth, a solar investment firm.

More information at http://www.resonant.energy/sap-overview/

hat tip Cambridge Civic Journal 
http://www.rwinters.com

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"Greening Our Grid" Report Released April 24, 2017

MAPC is excited to announce the release of “Greening Our Grid,” a fact sheet and a case study detailing MAPC’s strategy to use municipal aggregation to help build new renewable energy in New England. 

“Greening Our Grid” highlights MAPC's work with the City of Melrose as a case study for MAPC's innovative green municipal aggregation strategy. Melrose recently completed its first year of implementation. The city’s results demonstrate that economic and environmental goals can be met simultaneously, and provide a compelling example for others to follow. 

The case study and fact sheet further describe the renewable energy strategy overall, why it can have a real impact on our electricity grid, and MAPC’s program to help other municipalities follow Melrose's lead. Arlington, Brookline, Gloucester, Hamilton, Millis, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester are poised to roll out their green aggregations within the year. 

MAPC believes that municipal aggregation offers an opportunity for communities to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and businesses to transform our electric grid to cleaner sources of energy, while also providing cost savings and price stability for electricity. The fact sheet and case study will be useful tools for cities and towns that are exploring green municipal aggregation, as well as for those that already have active aggregation programs.

Check out “Greening Our Grid” today at http://www.mapc.org/greening-our-grid, and contact Patrick Roche, MAPC Clean Energy Coordinator, at proche@mapc.org for more information about MAPC's program.

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Cambridge Climate Change Game

Extending our work on face-to-face games, the MIT Science Impact Collaborative has developed a digital game on the health impacts of climate change that you can play alone on your computer or on your mobile phone. The game should take about 10-20 minutes. We would appreciate it if you could play the game at your convenience.

Play the game at http://www.doublecoconut.com/climate/

Any and all feedback on the game should be directed to Ella Kim at ella@mit.edu.  

Thank you for your time and consideration!

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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 - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting:  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy:  https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.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/
Harvard Events:  http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment:  http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard:  http://green.harvard.edu/events
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
Take Action MA:  http://takeactionma.com

If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 12 PM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.