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
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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, August 28
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2:30pm Artificial Intelligence & Consciousness Studies
6pm DIY Biology on Tap!: BosLab Fundraiser
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Tuesday, August 29
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5pm The Innovator's Playground
6pm Free Farmers’ Market
6pm Boston Green Drinks - August Happy Hour
7:30pm Driving Sustainability I : The cost of NOT being environment friendly
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Thursday, August 31
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10am GaAsP/InGaP Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for III-V on Si Microelectronics
11:30am Patterning and morphing control by fluid flows
6pm Girls in Tech Boston Summer Networking Panel
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Tuesday, September 5
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6pm Are Democracies in Peril?
6pm Power to the People: The New Energy Democracy
7pm The Cold War: A World History
7pm Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population
7pm Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture: Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Author of Just Mercy
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
Geometry Links - August 24, 2017
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Monday, August 28
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Artificial Intelligence & Consciousness Studies
Monday, August 28
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
MIT, Building 4-237, (Maclaurin Buildings), 2nd floor, 182 Memorial Drive (rear), Cambridge
An academic seminar held by MIT Deshpanda Center for Technological Innovation. Mr. Leon Sandler, the executive director of Deshpanda Center, and Mr. Liangang Sun, the art advisor at Columbia University and also an Artificial Intelligence researcher will be the speakers of the seminar.
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DIY Biology on Tap!: BosLab Fundraiser
Monday, August 28
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Aeronaut Brewery, 14 Tyler Street, Somerville
Like beer and want to learn more about DIY biology and BosLab? Come to our fundraiser at Aeronaut Brewery on Monday, August 28.
Do-it-yourself biology is a growing movement of citizen scientists, biologists and engineers exploring scientific inquiry outside the traditional laboratory. BosLab is a non-profit, community-based biotechnology laboratory based in Somerville. We offer various social events and educational workshops on molecular and synthetic biology to the public and advocate for scientific transparency by engaging all members of the community in the discussion.
Whether you're new to the DIY biology scene or a seasoned biologist, come to our fundraiser to learn more about the different activities we offer at BosLab including workshops, book clubs and outreach events. Also, members will be talking about their exciting DIY biology projects. You can read more about us at www.boslab.org.
Refreshments will be provided by Anna’s Taqueria.
Suggested donation is $15.
See you at Aeronaut on August 28!
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Tuesday, August 29
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The Innovator's Playground
Tuesday, August 29
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
La Fabrica, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost: $0 – $15
Come join us for an evening of collaborative play! Together we will celebrate as a community with design activities, interactive games, and delicious food!
The Innovator's Playground is an event presented by the Cambridge Educators Design Lab to promote design-based innovation with a focus on education.
It will bring together educators, students, designers and the surrounding community to foster local innovation, spark new ideas, and raise funds for future design solutions.
Families are welcome and children are free.
This fundraiser is hosted by the Center for Artistry and Scholarship.
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Free Farmers’ Market
Tuesday, August 29
6 - 7:30pm
Riverside Press Park, 393 River Street at Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Whole Foods, Food for Free, and the Boston Area Gleaners are bringing fresh produce and other foods to a FREE farmers’ market.
Contact Joe Deignan at 617-868-4858, extension 210 or jdeignan@homeownersrehab.org
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Boston Green Drinks - August Happy Hour
Tuesday, August 29
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Scholars, 25 School Street, Boston
Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community!
Boston Green Drinks builds a community of sustainably-minded Bostonians, provides a forum for exchange of sustainability career resources, and serves as a central point of information about emerging green issues. We support the exchange of ideas and resources about sustainable energy, environment, food, health, education.
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Driving Sustainability I : The cost of NOT being environment friendly
Tuesday, August 29
7:30 PM
Foundry on Elm Street, 255 Elm Street , Somerville
Ask for Ashwath's table!
In the first of this three part discussion series about driving sustainability, we look at why it is so easy and comfortable to continue remaining environmentally unfriendly.
We'll look to answer what the root causes are - a lack of awareness ? No cheap alternatives? General apathy and unwillingness to go outside the comfort zone?
We also look at specific examples of things that we may knowingly or unknowingly be doing that is environmentally unfriendly everyday, and look at what is being done elsewhere in the world to combat the problem.
A few relevant articles are below.
PS: There's no requirement to read anything in advance. We learn from each other at the table.
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Thursday, August 31
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GaAsP/InGaP Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for III-V on Si Microelectronics
Thursday, August 31
10:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Final Doctoral Thesis Defense: Christopher Heidelberger
Thesis Committee:
Professor Silvija Gradecak
Professor Lionel C. Kimerling
Professor Eugene A. Fitzgerald (Thesis Advisor)
*A draft copy of this thesis will be available for review in room 6-107.
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Patterning and morphing control by fluid flows
Thursday, August 31
11:30am to 12:30pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G125, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Karen Alim- MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization
During the development of an organism, coordination of growth on large scales in short time is essential. Fluid flows are a powerful mean to induce, transmit but also respond to biological signals and thus orchestrate patterning and morphing of an organism. We investigate the role of fluid flows during the growth and adaptation of transport networks focusing on the network-forming slime mold Physarum polycephalum and the vascular networks of plants and animals.
Widely Applied Mathematics Seminar
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Girls in Tech Boston Summer Networking Panel
Thursday, August 31
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
CIC Boston, 50 Milk Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/girls-in-tech-boston-summer-networking-panel-tickets-36871804560
Girls in Tech (GIT) Boston is very excited to be hosting a networking and learning event. Please join us on Thursday August 31, 2017 to hear from our expert panel on women in tech. We would love to connect and network with anyone interested in learning more about this very exciting organization.
GIT is a global non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology. Adriana Gascoigne founded GIT in 2007 to create a support framework to help women advance their careers in STEM fields.
Today, GIT aims to accelerate the growth of innovative women entering into the high-tech industry and building startups. We achieve this through the creation of proprietary, innovative programming and strategic global partnerships.
With headquarters in San Francisco and more than 50,000 members located around the globe, GIT relies on volunteer efforts to lead each of the 60 local chapters. Programming and events vary by chapter based on local interests and needs.
GIT is not just for professional women. We exist for anyone with an interest in technology, startups and providing women with a platform for growth. But we operate with the spirit of the girl within all of us—fearless, lively and determined.
See more information about our sponsor here: https://cic.us/
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Tuesday, September 5
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Are Democracies in Peril?
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 5, 2017, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR JFK Jr. Forum
Institute of Politics
Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Harvard Kennedy School
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Suzanne Young Murray Professor, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Meghan O’Sullivan, Jean Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School
Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, HKS; Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor, Radcliffe Institute
Nicco Mele (Moderator), Lecturer in Public Policy and Director, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
CONTACT INFO JFK Jr. Forum
Institute of Politics
617-495-1380
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Power to the People: The New Energy Democracy
Tuesday, September 5
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
CIC Cambridge - Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, 5th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/power-to-the-people-the-new-energy-democracy-tickets-36511948220
Cost: $8 – $12
Energy democracy is an emergent social movement that connects energy policy and social policy. The concept has been developed in response to growing concerns about socio-economic and racial inequities, the powerful influence of conventional fossil fuel energy companies on politics and policy, and the negative impacts of climate change.
Gender imbalance in the energy sector, fair access to the benefits of energy efficiency, and community-controlled sustainable and just local economic development will be discussed in light of the societal value of more diverse and inclusive participation in the renewable energy transition.
Our expert speakers will highlight opportunities for re-envisioning the renewable energy transition as a larger social transformation that redistributes power - literally and figuratively - and also strengthens societal resilience at multiple levels.
Speakers
Jennie C. Stephens, Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy & Associate Director of the Global Resilience Institute, Northeastern University
Jennie C. Stephens is Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy and Associate Director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University. Her research, teaching, and community engagement focuses on social dimensions of the renewable energy transition, reducing fossil fuel reliance, and strengthening resilience by integrating social justice with climate-energy policy. Professor Stephens received a 2017 Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, she is a 2015-2016 Leopold Leadership fellow, and her book “Smart Grid (R)Evolution: Electric Power Struggles” (Cambridge University Press, 2015) explores social and cultural debates about energy system change (co-authored with Wilson & Peterson). Before joining Northeastern, Professor Stephens was on the faculty at the University of Vermont and Clark University. She earned her PhD (2002) and MS (1998) at California Institute of Technology in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA (1997) at Harvard in Environmental Science & Public Policy.
Alex Papali, Green Justice Organizer, Clean Water Action
Alex has lived in the Boston area 30 years, organizing locally since high school. His areas of focus have ranged from prison issues to immigrant rights to tenant organizing–with the common goal of addressing structural causes of injustice and obstacles to sustainability. At Clean Water Action, Alex works towards 'energy democracy' with the Green Justice Campaign: fair access to the benefits of energy efficiency, clean local energy through "community microgrids," and a robust green economy for all through the collective efforts of more than 40 community, labor and environmental groups statewide. He is assisting the development of a grassroots energy group in the Worcester area, with a focus on building clean distributed energy resources that serve linguistically diverse low-income communities. He also helps coordinate the Boston Recycling Coalition, aiming to grow a world-class Zero Waste system in Boston that captures untapped economic potential and eliminates toxics and climate pollution by reimagining how we produce, consume and dispose of everything we use.
Penn Loh, Director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice for the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University
Penn Loh is Lecturer and Director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. He partners with various community base building organizations in the Right to the City Alliance and Center for Economic Democracy. From 1996 to 2009, he served in various roles, including Executive Director, at Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), a Roxbury-based environmental justice group. He holds an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Energy and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. Before joining ACE, he was Research Associate at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California and a Research Analyst at the Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies in Boston. He has published broadly on environmental and social justice issues. He has served on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Health and Research Subcommittee, the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, and on the boards of the Environmental Support Center, the Environmental Leadership Program, New World Foundation, and Community Labor United. He is currently a trustee of the Hyams Foundation.
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The Cold War: A World History
Tuesday, September 5
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Harvard Kennedy School's ODD ARNE WESTAD for a discussion of his latest book, The Cold War: A World History.
About The Cold War
We tend to think of the Cold War as a bounded conflict: a clash of two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, born out of the ashes of World War II and coming to a dramatic end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in this major new work, Bancroft Prize-winning scholar Odd Arne Westad argues that the Cold War must be understood as a global ideological confrontation, with early roots in the Industrial Revolution and ongoing repercussions around the world.
In The Cold War, Westad offers a new perspective on a century when great power rivalry and ideological battle transformed every corner of our globe. From Soweto to Hollywood, Hanoi, and Hamburg, young men and women felt they were fighting for the future of the world. The Cold War may have begun on the perimeters of Europe, but it had its deepest reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every community had to choose sides. And these choices continue to define economies and regimes across the world.
Today, many regions are plagued with environmental threats, social divides, and ethnic conflicts that stem from this era. Its ideologies influence China, Russia, and the United States; Iraq and Afghanistan have been destroyed by the faith in purely military solutions that emerged from the Cold War.
Stunning in its breadth and revelatory in its perspective, this book expands our understanding of the Cold War both geographically and chronologically, and offers an engaging new history of how today's world was created.
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Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population
Tuesday, September 5
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Dr. Sandro Galea -
Public health can rightly claim its share of victories: healthier cities, widespread sanitation, broader availability of nutrient-rich food, and reductions in violence and injury. But for all these gains, today we face a new set of challenges, ones complicated by political and professional shifts that threaten to fundamentally change the health of populations. Healthier is both an affirmation and an essential summary of the current challenges and opportunities for those working in and around the improvement of population health. The 50 essays combine unity and clarity of purpose with granular coverage of diverse subject matter. They champion an approach to health that is consequentialist and rooted in social justice — an expansion of traditional, quantitatively motivated public health that will both inform and inspire any reader from student to seasoned practitioner. Galea's cogent, incisive arguments for the urgency of population-level interventions in health guarantee that his perspective, currently at the forefront of public health, will soon become conventional wisdom. A key text of interest to health policy makers, civil servants, workers at state and local departments of health, and students in public health and health sciences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, is the Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean at the School of Public Health at Boston University. A physician and epidemiologist interested in the social production of health of urban populations, his work explores innovative cells-to-society approaches to population health questions with an overall aim of advancing a consequentialist approach to population health scholarship. He is a past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
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Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture: Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Author of Just Mercy
Tuesday, September 5
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Northeastern, Matthews Arena, 238-262 St. Botolph Street, Boston
The annual Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture celebrates the memory of the late Valerie Gordon ’93, a fierce advocate for human rights in the US and internationally. The lecture brings outstanding lawyers, judges, scholars and advocates who work to advance human rights to deliver a keynote address at the law school. In conjunction with the lecture, the law school’s chapter of the Black Law Students Association sponsors a human rights essay contest for first year law students. The author of the winning essay is given “The Spirit of Valerie Gordon” award, presented at the lecture each spring.
Editorial Comment: EJI has launched their Lynching in America project (https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org) which will include a museum and memorial in Montgomery, AL and a website mapping all historical instances of lynching in the USA.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, September 6
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Eric Rosenbach: Cyber Operations at the Pentagon
Wednesday, September 6,
12:15pm - 1:30pm
1 Brattle Square - Suite 470, Cambridge
Please join us for our first seminar event of the new semester, a conversation with the new Co-Director of the Belfer Center Eric Rosenbach. Lunch will be served.*
*This event is open to the public, but seating and lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
More information at http://www.belfercenter.org/index.php/events
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Bio-inspiration for flight through cluttered environments: pigeon short-range visual navigation
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 -
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Andrew Biewener (Harvard University)
The ability to fly through cluttered environments is essential to the ecological and evolutionary success of many groups of flying animals, and has generated considerable recent interest in the bioengineered control of UAVs. Flight navigation and obstacle avoidance require exceptional aerodynamic maneuvering performance coordinated by rapid processing of visual cues. We examined the strategies pigeons adopt to fly past vertical obstacles versus horizontal obstacles, in which flight guidance is well described by steering control that targets gap openings between nearby obstacles. We observed that pigeons bias their flight direction toward larger visual gaps when making fast steering decisions. To negotiate horizontal obstacles, pigeons exhibited less steering, choosing gaps most aligned to their immediate flight direction, and experienced fewer collisions with obstacles; indicating that horizontal obstacle navigation is less challenging than for vertical obstacles. We found that pigeons adopt discrete wing morphing strategies to traverse vertical obstacles of varying gap width and navigated past horizontal obstacles with more variable wing extension, stroke plane and wing stroke path to reduce contact with obstacles. Pigeons also exhibited pronounced head movements when negotiating horizontal obstacles, which potentially serve a visual function. These findings demonstrate that pigeons exhibit a keen kinesthetic sense of body and wing position and are able to navigate vertical and horizontal obstacles using simple rules, with remarkable success, that may offer bio-inspired insight for the control of UAVs.
Applied Mechanics Colloquia
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Understanding Civil Structures and Infrastructure Systems through Probabilistic Modeling and Data Analytics
Wednesday, September 06, 2017 at 4:00pm
MIT, Building 1-131, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Professor Iris Tien - Henry L. Pierce Lab Seminar Series
Abstract: Civil engineering systems, including structures and infrastructure lifelines, are critical to the functioning of society. These systems are complex, comprised of many interconnected components, and subject to hazards of increasing frequency and severity. In this seminar, I will present novel approaches for the probabilistic modeling and assessment of civil structures and infrastructure, and the use of data analytics to better understand and predict the behavior of these systems. Among the approaches I will discuss are methods to model interdependent critical infrastructure systems using Bayesian networks, predict structural risk and reliability using sensor monitoring data, and integrate varying data sources for infrastructure monitoring and assessment. I will discuss both theoretical developments in these areas and applications to real-world systems.
Bio: Dr. Iris Tien joined the faculty in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Systems Engineering in 2014 from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Tien’s research interests are in probabilistic methods for modeling and reliability assessment of civil infrastructure systems. She has a unique interdisciplinary background that encompasses traditional topics of civil engineering, sensing and data analytics, stochastic processes, and decision making under uncertainty. A previous recipient of the NSF Engineering Innovation Fellowship, Tien was recently selected for the NSF Early Career Investigators Workshop in Smart Cities and the National Academy of Engineering U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
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Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
Wednesday, September 6
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Cost $5 - $28
Harvard Book Store welcomes psychologists DANIEL GOLEMAN and RICHARD J. DAVIDSON for a discussion of their book, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body.
About Altered Traits
In the last twenty years, meditation and mindfulness have gone from being kind of cool to becoming an omnipresent Band-Aid for fixing everything from your weight to your relationship to your achievement level. Unveiling here the kind of cutting-edge research that has made them giants in their fields, Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson show us the truth about what meditation can really do for us, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it.
Sweeping away common misconceptions and neuromythology to open readers’ eyes to the ways data has been distorted to sell mind-training methods, the authors demonstrate that beyond the pleasant states mental exercises can produce, the real payoffs are the lasting personality traits that can result. But short daily doses will not get us to the highest level of lasting positive change—even if we continue for years—without specific additions. More than sheer hours, we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self, all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. The authors also reveal the latest data from Davidson’s own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice.
Exciting, compelling, and grounded in new research, this is one of those rare books that has the power to change us at the deepest level.
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Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate
Wednesday, September 6
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline
Cost: $5 – $27
Zoe Quinn
Through her story as both target and activist, Quinn delves into the controversies, threats, and cultural battles that permeate our online lives. Crash Override provides a look at how the internet impacts our lives and culture, along with wisdom for keeping yourself and others safe online.
Event Guidelines:
Tickets are $5 or free with the pre-order of Crash Override
Tickets may only be purchased online
The reading will take place at the Coolidge Corner Theatre at 6pm
The line at the theatre will form at 5:30pm
Present your printed Eventbrite ticket for entry to the theatre
Zoe's presentation at the theatre will last an hour
Signed copies of Crash Override will be available for pickup and purchase at Brookline Booksmith following the event
Editorial Comment: Ganergate was ground zero for a lot of what we've seen in online hate since then, including the 2016 Presidential election. Might be good to listen to someone who has been through it and come out the other side.
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Thursday, September 7
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A Conversation About Climate Change
Thursday, September 7
12:45 PM – Pizza at 12:15
BU, LSEB 103, 24 Cummington Mall, Boston
Charles DeLisi, Metcalf Professor of Science and Engineering, Dean Emeritus, College of Engineering, Boston University
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EPA Urban Heat Island Webinar: Understanding Your City’s Heat Island: Considerations & Approaches
Thursday, September 7
2:00-3:30 pm
Webinar
This webinar will feature work in Cambridge and Baltimore on mapping and understanding urban heat islands.
Speakers:
David Sailor, Professor & Director, Urban Climate Research Center, Arizona State
John Bolduc, Environmental Planner, City of Cambridge
Kristin Baja, Climate Resilience Officer, Urban Sustainability Directors Network
For more information and to register, click here.
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Combinatorics & Complexity Public Talk - Noga Alon
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 7, 2017, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Askwith Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications
SPEAKER(S) Noga Alon (Tel Aviv University)
DETAILS Noga Alon will give a public lecture titled "Graph Coloring: Local and Global" as part of the Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications' program on Combinatorics & Complexity.
Graph Coloring is arguably the most popular subject in Discrete Mathematics, and its combinatorial, algorithmic and computational aspects have been studied intensively. The most basic notion in the area, the chromatic number of a graph, is an inherently global property. This is demonstrated by the hardness of computation or approximation of this invariant as well as by the existence of graphs with arbitrarily high chromatic number and no short cycles. The investigation of these graphs had a profound impact on Graph Theory and Combinatorics. It combines combinatorial, probabilistic, algebraic and topological techniques with number theoretic tools. I will describe the rich history of the subject focusing on some recent results.
Combinatorics and Computational Complexity have enjoyed a rich history of interaction leading to many significant developments in the two fields, such as the theories of NP-completeness, expander graphs, pseudorandomness, and property testing. Lately these fields have seen many new points of intersection such as in the development of the polynomial method (used, for example, in recent advances on the cap-set problem as well as in development of optimal list-decodable codes), the method of interlacing families of polynomials (yielding Ramanujan graphs and the resolution of the Kadison-Singer problem), and the theory of randomness extractors (yielding explicit constructions of Ramsey graphs). This special program will bring together experts in the fields to collaborate, to learn about the latest advances in the area, and to forge new connections.
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Designing the Future of Teacher Learning
Thursday, September 7
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
All across the world, educational systems are exploring new ways to encourage more ambitious teaching and learning in classrooms: shifting away from recitation and rote learning to more engaging forms of collaborative, active, problem-centered learning. For this shift in classrooms to occur, we need to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of learning opportunities available to educators in these systems, and new forms of blended and online learning experiences will be central to this growth. One crucial element in teacher learning is practice. For most teachers, opportunities for low-stakes, deliberate practice is quite limited–teachers either learn theory in graduate school of education seminar rooms or test ideas in real classrooms, with real students, with real and immediate learning needs. At the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, we are developing new forms of teacher practice spaces, technology platforms inspired by games and simulations that provide the opportunity for teachers to rehearse for and reflect on important decisions in teaching. In this participatory session, we’ll play samples of some of the practice spaces that we are developing, and discuss the theoretical foundations of our vision for the future of teacher learning.
Justin Reich is the director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, an Assistant Professor in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department, and a Faculty Associate of the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. As a learning scientist, he investigates the complex, technology-rich classrooms of the future and the systems we need to prepare educators to thrive in those environments.
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EnergyBar Highlighting MA's Water + Energy Innovation Ecosystem
Thursday, September 7
5:15pm - 8:30pm
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
Greentown Labs recognizes cleantech and energy innovations are happening across sectors—not just in hardware and software—but also in water, advanced materials, and green chemistry. That’s why Greentown Labs is adding an 1,800 sq. ft. wet lab to its Global Center for Cleantech Innovation which is scheduled to open in October! The new wet lab will enable Greentown Labs to support startups and corporates alike working to address the water-energy nexus.
Massachusetts is proud to be home to a growing water innovation cluster comprised of many startups, investors, corporates, and public stakeholders who push the industry forward. Investment into startups developing groundbreaking technology solutions is critical to addressing our global water needs. Please join us for a panel discussion focused on this sector, highlighting:
Challenges water-based startups encounter and how to overcome them; and
Why startup and corporate partnerships in the water space is a valuable pursuit and how to bring one to fruition in your business.
We hope to see you on September 7!
Event Agenda:
5:15-5:30pm — Attendees arrive + sign-in
5:30-6:15pm — Water + Energy Innovation Ecosystem Panel
6:15-6:30pm — Refill your beverage + grab more appetizers!
6:30-7:15pm — Welcoming remarks from Greentown Labs + announcement of new sponsors!
7:15-8:30pm — Networking
About EnergyBar!
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs' bi-monthly networking event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Our attendees typically span a variety of disciplines within energy, efficiency, and renewables. In general, if you're looking for a job in cleantech or energy, trying to expand your network, or perhaps thinking about starting your own energy-related company this is the event for you. Expect to have conversations about issues facing advanced and renewable energy technologies and ways to solve our most pressing energy problems.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm. Suggested dress is shop floor casual. Parking is incredibly limited at Greentown Labs and we encourage attendees to consider taking advantage of public transportation.
We hope to see you on September 7!
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MIT List Visual Arts Center | Public Program | Film Screening
Thursday, September 7,
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Bakalar Gallery 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Let the Fire Burn. 2013. Directed by Jason Osder
95 min.
Let the Fire Burn presents, via television proceedings and news footage, the events leading up to and surrounding an underreported 1985 stand-off between the black liberation group MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department.
This Thursday evening feature documentary film screening is presented in conjunction with List Projects: Civil Disobedience. Screenings take place in Bakalar Gallery.
All programs are free and open to the general public. RSVPs are required. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-let-the-fire-burn-2013-dir-jason-osder-tickets-35431838583
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SUSTAINABILITY COLLABORATIVE
Thursday, September 7
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Venture Cafe at Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
The Sustainability Collaborative was spurred as an outgrowth of the Sustainability unConference and aims to provide an ongoing platform for collaboration, connections, and solutions generation. Rotating sustainability advocates are given the chance to facilitate group discussion around central sustainability themes ranging from hunger alleviation to impact investing. The goal is to raise awareness within the innovation community while strengthening the social impact ecosystem.
Hosted monthly as part of The Venture Café Foundation’s Café Night at Kendall gathering.
Please reach out to Sierra Flanigan: sierra@coalesce.earth
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Friday, September 8
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xTalk: Chinmay Kulkarni on "The Case for an Integrated Future of Learning and Work"
Friday, September 8
11:00am to 12:00pm
MIT Building 24-121, 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Learning and work are at a tipping point: more than 20 million learners have enrolled in Massive Open Online Classes, and freelancers are expected to comprise 40% of the US workforce by 2020. My research explores a future where a dramatically larger number of people engage in lifelong learning, and where learning and work are increasingly intertwined. My talk describes recent research how freelance work can support learning.
It will also describe software systems and associated pedagogy used by 100,000+ learners in MOOCs, thousands of students in university classrooms, and freelancers on Upwork. These systems point to how leveraging peer processes at massive scale can address this societal challenge.
Chinmay Kulkarni is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie-Mellon's HCI Institute. In his research, he designs computational systems to help people work and learn better, together.
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Saving Venice" MIT-Style: A research presentation by MIT-Italy students and faculty from EAPS & CEE
Friday, September 8
11:00am to 12:30pm
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Join MISTI, MIT EAPS, and CEE as 10 MIT students present their research on rising sea levels in Venice.
The group's intensive workshop took place at a research camp on a small island in the Venetian Lagoon this summer to find solutions to key challenges facing Venice. Learn about how the group from MIT collaborated with Italian students and faculty from the University of Venice to join forces in the "global classroom," and join in on the plans for next summer!
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Big Data Software: What’s Next?
Friday, September 8
12:30pm to 2:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Michael Franklin, University of Chicago
The Big Data revolution has been enabled by a wealth of innovation in software platforms for data storage, analytics, and machine learning. The design of Big Data platforms such as Hadoop and Spark focused on scalability, fault-tolerance and performance. As these and other systems increasingly become part of the mainstream, the next set of challenges are becoming clearer. Requirements for performance are changing as workloads and hardware evolve. But more fundamentally, other issues are moving to the forefront. These include ease of use for a wide range of users, security, concerns about privacy and potential bias, and the perennial problems of data quality and integration from heterogeneous sources. In this talk, Dr. Franklin will give an overview of how we got here, with an emphasis on the development of the Apache Spark system. He will then focus on these emerging issues with an eye towards where the academic research community can most effectively engage.
Speaker Bio: Michael Franklin is the Liew Family Chair of Computer Science at the University of Chicago where he also serves as senior advisor to the provost on computation and data science. Previously he was at UC Berkeley where he was the Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the Computer Science Division. He co-founded Berkeley’s AMPLab, a leading academic big data analytics research center, and served as an executive committee member for the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, a campus-wide initiative to advance data science environments. Michael is a Fellow of ACM and a two-time recipient of the ACM SIGMOD “Test of Time” award.
IACS Seminar Series
IACS Seminars are free and open to the public. Lunch will be served from 12:30-1pm on a first-come, first served basis. The talk will begin promptly at 1pm.
Host: Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS)
Contact: Natasha Baker
Phone: 617-496-2623
Email: nrbaker@seas.harvard.edu
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Whose Global Village?
Friday, September 8
7pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Ramesh Srinivasan
A call to action to include marginalized, non-western communities in the continuously expanding digital revolution.
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Saturday, September 9 - Sunday, September 10
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Reimagining Longevity Ideathon - Innovating Dementia Care in Japan, U.S. and the World
Saturday, September 9 - Sunday, September 10
CIC Cambridge, 101 Main St. 15th Floor, Cambridge
Caring for our seniors is a growing concern for governments and economies worldwide as people live longer lives.
Longevity – along with its many blessings - can be fraught with medical, financial, psychological and social burdens that are as complex for aging individuals as for the people who love and care for them.
Yet, we believe, the longevity crisis is also a crucible from which the most creative innovations in elder care can emerge.
Entrepreneurs and innovators have a staggering opportunity to make an outsized impact for 50+ million consumers in an $8 trillion dollar senior care market in the U.S. and Japan combined.
SOMPO, one of the largest insurers and assisted living facility operators in Japan, sees first-hand the widening gap where demand for quality, dignified care at a reasonable cost far outpaces the supply. They’ve been working with innovators in Japan to deploy new technology-enabled solutions, and compassionate business models, to transform elder care.
SOMPO is now teaming up with Venture Cafe to leverage the wisdom of crowds on a global scale -- with a special focus on reimagining care for people with dementia. The prizes for the Ideathon winners are as follow:
Grand Prize $10,000
Runner Up $5,000
Third Place $2,500
In addition, SOMPO will work with the winner on a Proof of Concept in Japan (including airfare and accommodations for two people for a week). We’re eager to share what we experience daily on the frontlines of our 300 care facilities in Japan.
The ten Ideathon company finalists will also receive up to two seats to work out of a new Global Aging Innovation Hub co-working location at CIC for twelve months.
From September 9 thru 12, we’re convening entrepreneurs, business executives, academics and thought leaders in a global “ideathon” with the Venture Cafe to spark collaboration, far out ideas and new insights on how to care for people with the debilitating illness.
Your help is critical: seven million people in Japan, or twenty percent of 65+ year olds, are expected to suffer from dementia within the next 10 years. The number of people worldwide living with dementia is currently estimated at 47 million, and is projected to increase to 75 million by 2030.
We want to encourage you to look at dementia from all angles, including preventive care, home care, remote care, accessibility, financial management, and long term care in healthcare facilities.
Bring your team, or join one at the event, and work on your boldest ideas for scalable technology-enabled solutions:
How might we detect signs of dementia early and prevent rapid degeneration?
How might we ease the burden of care on home caregivers?
How might we increase social engagement among the elderly?
How will people be able to afford the care they need for a long healthy life?
How can we improve the built environment, remote services, and monitoring to ensure elders can age with grace?
We’re seeking thoughtful businesses and prototypes designed with elders at the center; and meaningful plans to accelerate the solutions from incubators into living rooms, board rooms, health care facilities, and public spaces.
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Saturday, September 9
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Tour de Streets 2017
Saturday, September 9
9:30am-2:00pm
DCR North Point Park, Cambridge
This annual family-friendly event features a 10-mile urban bike ride, a 4-mile family bike ride, and a 3-mile walk. Join the Emerald Network or StreetsPeeps Team or start your own! Click here to view all of the routes.
Don't care to bike or walk? Simply join us for the party! Your participation directly supports all of our programs, including Vision Zero, Better Buses, and the Emerald Network!
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Fall 2017 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
Saturday September 9
NOON to 2 pm
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday Sep. 10, 12-2
Fayette Park (near the corner of Broadway and Fayette Street), Cambridge
Bring anything you’d like to share. Elegant packaging not required, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, biennial seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening.
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Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: IP Landscape and Competitive Strategies
Saturday, September 9
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Speaker: Jili Chung, JD, PhD, MBA, Consultant, PHYCOS International Co., Ltd. Taiwan
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Sunday, September 10
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The Boston Agricultural Exposition returns!
Sunday, September 10
11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Haley House Bakery, 12 Dade Street, Roxbury
LIVE ANIMALS -- LIVE MUSIC -- CIDER PRESSING -- GAMES -- DEMONSTRATIONS -- VEGGIE RACE-CAR DERBY -- & MORE !!
Join The Trustees, Haley House and Agricultural Hall to celebrate another season of urban agriculture.
Submit your prize garden gems, kitchen concoctions, canned creations, and more for a chance to win prizes and ribbons from a panel of judges. Then spend the afternoon visiting exhibits, playing games for young and old (and win even more prizes!), watching demonstrations (beekeeping, keeping backyard chickens and other fowl, mushroom-growing, composting,...), listening to music, and more. For updates, schedules, contest rules & entry forms, and more, see www.AgHall.com/fair-2017.
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Cambridge Carnival
Sunday, September 10
12-7 PM – Parade 12:30 – until;
From Putnam Avenue to Kendall Square, Cambridge
Festival 12- 7 PM
Kendall Square, Cambridge
We are looking forward to this year’s 25th Carnival! The theme for this year’s Carnival remains Cambridge Carnival, Cambridge Strong, as we unify the city in celebration of diversity and community.
Cambridge Carnival is a colorful and festive celebration rooted in African traditions. This free festival is celebrating 25 years this year and is considered a Cambridge Institution, and is the largest festival in Cambridge with thousands of attendees. The highlight of the festival is a grand costume parade accompanied by rich rhythmic musicality promoting all types of cultures. Participants can be seen as revelers masquerading through the streets in dazzling handmade costumes, dancing to the beat of the Carnival. The festival is also an opportunity to celebrate Cambridge’s diversity, enjoy international foods, and purchase multicultural crafts from around the world!
More information at http://cambridgecarnival.org
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"The Age of Consequences" screening in Community Garden
Sunday, September 10
5:30 pm
Harvard Community Garden, Radcliffe Quadrangle, 98 Walker Street, Cambridge
Join the Harvard Extension School Environmental Club for a special film screening of "The Age of Consequences" in the Harvard Community Garden.
After the movie there will be a presentation (recorded earlier) by Executive Producer of the movie, Sophie Robinson. Refreshments will be provided during the event.
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Monday, September 11
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2017 Energy Storage & Microgrid Conference
Monday, September 11
7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Boston Newton Marriott, 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton
Cost: $175 - $250
Innovation Northeast in collaboration with the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster and the Hydrogen Energy Center is pleased to host the 2017 Energy Storage and Microgrid Conference, taking place at the Boston Marriot Newton on Monday, September 11, 2017. This unique conference is bringing together leaders in the energy storage and microgrid industries to the innovation epicenter: Boston, Massachusetts. Benefit from panel discussions with industry experts; Connect with early stage companies, investors, and strategic partners; Gain insight into industry leading technologies; Understand potential applications for energy storage technologies; and Network with government and leading industry stakeholders.
Website: http://www.innovationnortheast.org/
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PAOC Colloquium: David McGee (MIT): The Patterns, Pace and Magnitude of Past Hydroclimate Changes
Monday, September 11
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
David McGee’s research focuses on understanding the atmosphere’s response to past climate changes. By documenting past changes in precipitation and winds using geochemical measurements of stalagmites, lake deposits and marine sediments and interpreting these records in the light of models and theory, he aims to offer data-based insights into the patterns, pace and magnitude of past hydroclimate changes. His primary tool is measurements of uranium-series isotopes, which provide precise uranium-thorium dates for stalagmites and lake deposits and allow reconstructions of windblown dust emission and transport using marine sediments.
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 generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided 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.
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Towards a “Foresightful Innovation”
Monday, September 11
1:00pm — 2:00pm
MIT Media Lab, Building E15 - Bartos theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Foresight is the Art and Science of inventing and designing the future. It is the first and key step of innovation in a fast changing world. This presentation will involve a thrilling journey from the distant past into the long term future, and will discuss how Foresight has changed the world, and how its practice has evolved over time. The presentation will provide methodological frameworks and tools for exploring and shaping futures by combining ‘creativity’, ‘expertise’, ‘evidence’ and ‘networking’ for the purposes of:
Identifying and monitoring trends, weak signals of emerging developments and wild cards
Exploring alternative futures under complexity and uncertainty
Enabling creativity and innovation with out-of-the-box thinking
Building future visions and determining priorities
Identifying key scientific and technological areas
Developing new products, services and markets, and
Recommending policies and strategies for R&D
Topics covered are ‘anti-disciplinary’ in nature and are relevant for innovators in all scientific disciplines and at all levels of governance (international, national, corporate or individual).
Speaker Bio: Dr. Ozcan Saritas is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow; and editor-in-chief of “Foresight” - the journal of future studies, strategic thinking and policy. He worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester, UK. His research focuses upon innovation and policy research with particular emphasis on socio-economic and technological Foresight. With a PhD from the “Foresight and Prospective Studies Program,” he introduced the “Systemic Foresight Methodology”, and has produced a number of publications on the topic. He has extensive work experience with the international organizations including United Nations (UNIDO and UNCTAD), OECD, and the European Commission. He has been involved in large scale national, multinational and corporate research and consultancy projects on sectors including Energy, Climate Change and Renewables, Agriculture and Food, Water Resources and Sustainability, Transportation and Automotive, Information and Communication Technologies among the others; published a number of articles in respected journals; and have delivered keynote speeches in more than 50 countries across the world. Besides his research and publication activities, he designs and delivers academic and executive education courses on Foresight, Innovation Management and Strategic Planning. He has recently co-authored a book, entitled “Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation” published by Springer, which has become one of the key readings in the field.
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Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling Event: Panel on Cloud Computing for Molecular Modeling
Monday, September 11
5:30 PM
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, 250 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
A panel of industry experts will present a panel on Cloud Computing for Molecular Modeling in the auditorium at NIBR at 250 Mass Avenue in Cambridge, starting at 6pm, following refreshments at 5:30pm. Further networking time with refreshments will follow the discussion. Panel members include:
Lucas Nivon, Ph.D. (discussion leader), Co-founder and CEO, Cyrus Biotechnology
Pat Lorton, Ph.D. (panelist), Chief Technology Officer, Schrodinger
Essam Metwally, Ph.D. (panelist), Senior Scientist, Chemical Computing Group
TBD representative from OpenEye
Molecular Modeling on the Cloud: Implementing complex workflows for all users
Many major advances have been made in the last 10 years in small molecule and protein modeling and design, including the design of novel protein folds and protein-binding activity into inert scaffolds. All of these have required very large amounts of computing and complex workflows with sensitive benchmarking and expert configuration. This complexity, sensitivity and large infrastructure requirements have in many cases limited these tools to very few use cases in an academic environment with access to very large shared compute resources. We propose that the public cloud provides an opportunity to circumvent infrastructure limitations while simultaneously reducing complexity and increasing accessibility.
Here we examine the previously existing infrastructure used to run these types of calculations. We consider the design requirements for a value-focused research organization in a cloud implementation of molecular modeling and design, such as maintenance cost/time, reliability, speed to answers, and correctness of answers. Then we propose various architectural instantiations of a “cloud” modeling suite of software while considering best practices in software-as-a-service tools from other fields (such as email). Finally, we outline one general solution to a cloud architecture that emphasizes these requirements and reduces user complexity. Simplification to users requires shifting complexity to cloud infrastructure and increased software development time.
We focus on one case study of a scientific workflow implementation, detailing architectural/workflow aspects and the scientific benchmarking required.
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Residential Green Building Committee Meeting with Peter Lawrence from Biomimicry New England
Monday, September 11
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
50 Milk Street, 18th Floor "Hemingway" Conf Room, Boston
The Residential Green Building Committee is focused on improving the housing stock of the Commonwealth by championing green building practices in our communities. Join us on the second Monday of each month to be a part of the movement.
This meeting's guest speaker will be Peter Lawrence of Biomimicry New England.
Residential Green Building Committee
The committee’s objectives are to work to raise the awareness of the benefits of residential green building and remodeling and to increase the quantity of projects registering for LEED for Homes. The committee, through education and outreach, will focus on the following:
Hold across MA, Lunch and LEED, education sessions and tours on topics such as Zero Net Energy, Deep Energy Retrofits and REGREEN
Help the community understand and implement LEED for Homes and residential green building, remodeling and retrofits
Ensure that our target markets are aware of available green building tools and resources
Partner with other Green Building Programs
Establish a collaborative relationship with a professional and/or community organizations
Develop case studies and green residential building content for the USGBC MA website
Committee Meetings
Please contact Kimberly Le (le.kimberly.c@gmail.com) if you are interested in joining this committee or plan on attending an upcoming meeting.
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Welcome to the Revolution
Monday, September 11
7pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Charles Berber
When the Women's March gathered millions just one day after Trump's inauguration, a new era of progressive action was born. Organizing on the far Right led to Trump's election, bringing authoritarianism and the specter of neo-fascism, and intensifying corporate capitalism's growing crises of inequality and injustices. Yet now we see a new universalizing resistance among progressive and left movements for truth, dignity, and a world based on democracy, equality, and sustainability.
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Trevor Paglen | The Planet is a Sensor
Monday, September 11
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building E15-001, ACT Cube, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Trevor Paglen is an artist whose work spans image-making, sculpture, investigative journalism, writing, engineering, and numerous other disciplines. Among his chief concerns are learning how to see the historical moment we live in and developing the means to imagine alternative futures.
Paglen’s work has had one-person exhibitions at Vienna Secession, Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, Van Abbe Museum, Frankfurter Kunstverein, and Protocinema Istanbul, and participated in group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, and numerous other venues. He has launched an artwork into distant orbit around Earth in collaboration with Creative Time and MIT, contributed research and cinematography to the Academy Award-winning film Citizenfour, and created a radioactive public sculpture for the exclusion zone in Fukushima, Japan.
This lecture is part of the Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT)'s Fall 2017 Lecture Series: The Edge of Knowing and Un-Knowing
September 11, 2017 through December 4, 2017
The fall 2017 ACT Lecture Series invites renowned artists and philosophers to help us challenge our habits of perception and expand our margins of thought. Artistic intelligence is drawn to the fertile edges of knowledge, engaging radically anticipatory modes of being, thinking, creating, and acting without certainty. The series will offer models for un-knowing science and technology as a way to dislocate and re-articulate knowledge production in proximity to technologies of planetary threat: how to navigate the camouflaged, the unknown, the deceptive, the trumped.
Sep 11 | Trevor Paglen | The Planet is a Sensor
Sep 25 | Cristina Ricupero | Don’t Believe A Word I Say
Oct 20 | David Reinfurt | A Post-Industrial Postscript
Nov 13 | Postcommodity | The Repellent Fence and Beyond
Dec 4 | Judith Barry | A Discussion of Several Research-Based Projects
About the ACT Lecture Series
ACT’s lecture series draws together artists, scholars, and other cultural practitioners from different disciplines to discuss artistic methodologies and forms of inquiry at the intersection of art, architecture, science, and technology.
ACT’s Fall 2017 series is conceived by Gediminas Urbonas, ACT Director, and coordinated with Marissa Friedman, Senior Communications and Public Programs Assistant, and Laura Knott, Consulting Curator.
More information on the series at http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures-series/about-pages/fall-2017-about-series/
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Tuesday, September 12
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Sustainability Is Beautiful - Roxbury E+ Housing by ISA
Tuesday, September 12
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Please join Deb Katz and Brian Phillips from ISA - Interface Studio Architects LLC for an exciting discussion about the Roxbury E+ project. This AIA award winning design has been able to successful incorporate the City of Boston's Energy Plus (E+) Green Building Program into the design for four 3-story wood framed houses. The Jury noted that "The design is a nice contemporary translation of the historic fabric or neighborhood."
Attendees will be able to learn the following:
Methodologies for designing urban infill housing which minimizes environmental impact using both design and technical principals (right sizing layouts, product selections, construction techniques, uses of energy renewables).
Considerations for the design of very high performance affordable buildings.
Understanding ways to incorporate Net Positive elements into market-rate housing.
Information about the Boston Energy Plus Green Building Program and how this could affect your design.
ISA-Interface Studio Architects is an architecture office engaged in design and research projects in cities across the U.S. The studio works closely with project stakeholders to produce buildings, master plans, installations, and conversations that provide innovative solutions for clients while productively addressing changing climates, lifestyles, technologies, and urban environments. The firm is led by principals Brian Phillips and Deb Katz from offices in Philadelphia, PA and Cambridge, MA.
This presentation has been submitted for 1.5 LU's.
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Native American Speakers Series: On Wampanoag Ground
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2017, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Divinity School, Rockefeller Room 117, 47 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Religion
SPONSOR Harvard Divinity School; Harvard University Native American Program; and Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights
CONTACT Tracy Wall: tracy_wall@harvard.edu or 617.495.5705
DETAILS The first speaker for the Native American Speakers Series—Language, Environment and Indigenous Rights, Ramona Peters (Wampanoag/Mashpee) sees herself as a visual historian of her culture, fulfilling this role as a teacher, spokesperson, curator, sculptor, interpreter, consultant, and activist. She serves as NAGPRA Director and Director of Historic Preservation for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
The Speakers’ Series is being held in conjunction with HDS 2345: Issues in the Study of Native American Religion.
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Comix, Jews ’n Art? Dun’t Esk!!
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2017, 5 p.m.
WHERE Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Jewish Studies
SPEAKER(S) Art Spiegelman
COST Tickets are free if you pick up from the Box Office/You may also *purchase tickets by phone, 617-496-2222 or online www.boxoffice.harvard.edu for a small fee.
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu
TICKET INFO *Limit 4 per person/FREE PICK-UP at the Harvard Box Office, Farkas Hall, 10 Holyoke St. starting on Tuesday, August 29 until September12. Tickets will be also be available at the door at 3:00PM pending availability
CONTACT INFO Center for Jewish Studies
617-495-4326
DETAILS Art Spiegelman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Artist/Illustrator and author of "Maus," "In the Shadow of No Towers," and "Breakdowns." Art Spiegelman has almost singlehandedly brought comic books out of the toy closet and onto the literature shelves. In 1992, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his masterful Holocaust narrative Maus— which portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. His comics are best known for their shifting graphic styles, their formal complexity, and controversial content. Spiegelman takes his audience on a chronological tour of the evolution of comics, all the while explaining the value of this medium and why it should not be ignored. He believes that in our post-literate culture the importance of the comic is on the rise, for “comics echo the way the brain works.
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Emerging Applications of Blockchain for Supply Chains
Tuesday, September 12
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Cost: $25 Members; $45 Non-members: $10 for Students; $5 for Student memberes
As consumers, we want to know that the food we eat is safe and (in some cases, such as fine wines) that it’s provenance is authentic. We want to know with certainty that the gold, diamonds, and electronics we buy are not funding conflicts. And that the products we buy are not counterfeits. Supply chain managers want to track condition, location, and remove friction from global supply chains. Blockchain/ distributed ledger technology holds promise in solving these problems, with applications in socially responsible supply chains, traceability/provenance/chain-of-custody tracking, anticounterfeiting, condition monitoring, customs and compliance, trade finance, and other areas that can benefit from a shared, immutable ledger.
Some of these have already been implemented, tracking millions of products; but most are still in development or pilot phase. However, the level of activity and investment is becoming intense and we expect rapid developments in this arena. In this session, we will hear from CEOs, founders, and technology experts at the companies on the forefront of this ongoing digital transformation of supply chain. You will learn:
What are the various opportunities of using blockchain in the supply chain, which hold the most potential, and what implementations are providing value right now?
How is or can blockchain be combined with other technologies, such as IoT, to tackle supply chain challenges in new ways?
What are the hurdles for widespread adoption?
You won’t want to miss this provocative and engaging session (including ample audience Q&A) with the leaders on the forefronts of these new developments.
Speakers
Samantha Radocchia, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Chronicled
Brigid McDermott, Vice President, Blockchain, IBM
Dan Harple, Founder and CEO, Context Labs
Dan Doles, CEO, Mojix
Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research
Moderator
Michael Casey, Senior Advisor - Blockchain Research, MIT Media Lab
Event Schedule
5:30 - 6:00pm - Registration and Networking
6:00 - 8:00pm - Welcome & Panel Discussion
8:00 - 9:00pm - Networking
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Being Mortal: Medicine & What Matters in the End
Tuesday, September 12
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline
Cost: $20
Atul Gawande
Named a "Best Book of the Year" by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, and the Chicago Tribune, Being Mortal is finally in paperback after two full years on the NYT-bestseller list.
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury, and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should. Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors, uncomfortable discussing patients' anxieties about death, fall back on false hopes and treatments that are actually shortening lives instead of improving them.
Atul will appear in conversation with novelist Jennifer Haigh.
Event Guidelines:
Tickets may be purchased online or in-store.
Price includes: 1 ticket to Atul Gawande's reading + 1 copy of Being Mortal.
You may pick up your copy of Being Mortal at Brookline Booksmith on 9/12 or before the end of September 2017.
The reading will take place
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Boston New Technology September 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT81 (21+)
Tuesday, September 12
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Bouelvard, Boston
Cost: $12.00 /per person
his event is 21+. Find our check-in table in the lobby and present your valid photo identification to pick up your name tag.
Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with 150 attendees from the Boston/Cambridge startup community! Dinner, beer, wine and more are included.
This event is 21+, due to alcohol being served. Valid photo identification is required. Buy your ticket now and save 50% - price rises on September 5th.
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Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate Change: Why Our Current Climate Is What It Is
Tuesday September 12
7:00 PM
Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Avenue, Belmont
Cziczo-Dan_120x120.jpgDaniel Cziczo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The excess CO2 in our atmosphere will affect Earth's climate for centuries to come, and we need to understand why. Professor Cziczo is an atmospheric scientist at MIT who is an expert on the crucial role of clouds in the dynamics of climate. In this presentation, he explains the vital relationship between clouds and climate. He also discusses present options for reducing atmospheric CO2. And.. he's bringing his small cloud chamber to demonstrate cloud formation. Dr. Cziczo will show also how atmospheric conditions that lead to cloud formation are studied in his lab, at mountaintop sites, and from research aircraft. You'll never think of clouds in the same old way again! There will be plenty of time for discussion.
Science for the Public Lecture Series
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Opportunity
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Greenfest Looking for Volunteers
10th Annual Boston GreenFest will be at Boston City Hall Plaza, August 11-13, 2017. It is the largest multicultural environmental music festival in the region featuring lots of local and international exhibits, performances, films, food, fashion and forums. Our goal is to educate and empower people to create a more sustainable, healthier world. We are actively building an interconnected, ever expanding network throughout our neighborhoods, city and region. From business to nonprofit, neighborhood association to academic institution, Boston GreenFest spans age, culture and industry. Celebrating our 10th anniversary, Boston GreenFest is excited to bring this wonderful free three-day festival to Boston City Hall Plaza as it is transformed into a fun interactive community classroom.
We are looking for volunteers to help throughout the weekend.
Please visit: http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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New Climate CoLab Contests:
Adaptation
Buildings
Carbon Pricing
Energy Supply
Land Use Change
Shifting Attitudes & Behaviors
Transportation
More information at https://www.climatecolab.org/
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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.
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
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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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"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://calendar.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 11 AM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
