Sunday, January 28, 2018

Energy (and Other) Events - January 28, 2018

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, January 29
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9:30am  Arts and Culture Discussion Series #2: Art and Green Infrastructure
9:30am  FESTIVAL OF LEARNING
9:30am  Operations Research for Social Good
10:30am  Innovation Day 2018: Megatrends & the Future of #TechinMA
12pm  Leadership – Lessons academics could learn from business schools
12:10pm  Sibling cooperation and interparental conflict in a seed: how plant mothers, fathers, and siblings
12:15pm  Democracy by the Numbers: The Twentieth-Century Fight over US Congressional Reapportionment
12:30pm  Who Pays to Save the Planet? A Sectoral Political Economy of Climate Change Mitigation
1pm  Passive House Affordable Housing Forum
4pm  Conserving Ecosystems and Their Services in a Changing and Uncertain World
4pm  EAPS IAP 2018: Origin of Life Seminar Series:  "What is “I”: The Role of Compartmentalisation in the Origins of Life”
4pm  Norton Lecture I, 'The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part I' by Frederick Wiseman
6:30pm  Diversity and Doctors: The science of inclusive healthcare
7pm  Other Minds:  The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
8pm  NATIONAL GRASSROOTS ACTIVIST SUMMIT on RADIOACTIVE WASTE Summit Planning Call

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Tuesday, January 30
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10am  Natural Gas Infrastructure and Public Health: From Local to Global
12pm  MIT Green Labs Info Session
12pm  Turkey and the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Responses and Perspectives
12pm  Threatening Whiteness: Islam’s Challenge to American White Supremacy
12pm  The Bush, The Barn, and One Health Approaches to Pandemic Preparedness
12pm  Legal Considerations for Blockchain Innovations and ICOs
1pm  RNA as medicine
3pm  Special Harvard Climate Seminar: Raymond Pierrehumbert
4pm  Multi-Host Fungal Pathogens: Challenges and Opportunities in Conserving Global Amphibian Diversity
5:30pm  Askwith Debates – Beyond “Free College”: Improving Opportunity and Success at Community Colleges
6pm  Design for Inman Square and Vellucci Plaza Community Meeting
6pm  The Revolution in American Trade Policy
6pm  Building Climate Resilient Communities
6pm  Boston Green Drinks - JANUARY 2018 Happy Hour
6pm  The MIT Forum: Andre Borschberg SM ’83, pilot and co-founder of the Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered flight around the world
7pm  To Fight Against This Age:  On Fascism and Humanism
7pm  The Wizard and the Prophet
7pm  “What Should We Talk About When We Talk About Health?”

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Wednesday, January 31
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9:30am  Together We Build, Together We Rise
11am  The oceans in a warming world
12pm  The Atmospheric Signature of ENSO [El NiƱo and the Southern Oscillation]
12pm  “The Thunderous Consonance of Drums”: Black Festivity in Colonial Brazil
1pm  The Nexus of Green Building, Public Health and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
3:30pm  China's Top 1000 and 10,000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program: Effectiveness, Compliance, and Lessons
3:30pm  Water Management for Future Climate Scenarios
4pm  Charles Murray and the Alt Right as History
4:15pm  Applying Asset Pricing Theory to Calibrate the Price of Climate Risk
4:30pm  Opioids and the Masses: Early Lessons from the Epidemic
5pm  CSAIL Wellness Colloquium: Nutrition Research is Confusing. How Much Does it Actually Matter What You Eat?
5pm  Science Advocacy Media Training
7pm  State of the Union…of Concerned Scientists—Telephone Briefing
7pm  How Democracies Die
8pm  Fossil Free Fast: The Climate Resistance

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Thursday, February 1
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8am  2018 Renewable Energy Conference
11:45am  Regulatory Reform and Individual Liberty
12pm  Redistributing Power:  Energy Democracy, Renewables & Community Resilience
12pm  A Road Less-Traveled: Feminism and Advocacy in Saudi Arabia
12pm  Self-Driving Cars: Pros and Cons for the Public's Health
12:15pm  Getting Away with Mass Murder: The Logic of Atrocity Denials
1pm  Health and Safety Issues of Nanomaterials
4pm  Shifting Fire Regimes and Their Compounding Impact on Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
4pm  Agents of Change' Film Screening and Discussion
5pm  Combinatorics & Complexity Public Talk - Jacob Fox
6pm  A Conversation with Senator Dick Durbin
6pm  Gutman Library Distinguished Author Series: Addicted to Reform
6:30pm  Does Mindfulness Alter the Brain? The Impact Meditation has on Our Brains
6:30pm  "All the Queen's Horses" Film Screening and Panel Discussion
7pm  Dr Jonathan Quick in conversation w/Dr Ashish Jha - THE END OF EPIDEMICS
7pm  Weathering the Storm:  Building Resilience to Extreme Precipitation

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Friday & Saturday, February 2 & 3
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Tufts Energy Conference

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Friday, February 2
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8am  How Can Intermediaries Help Accelerate Social Change?
8:30am  Do Regulatory Platforms Drive Evolutionary Innovation?
8:30am  MIT on Chaos and Climate:  Centenary Celebration of Jule Charney and Ed Lorenz
1pm  Mapathon for Puerto Rico
4pm  Origin of Life Seminar Series:  The Planetary Battery for the Origins of Life: The Example of Mars”
4:30pm  Can a New Industrial Revolution Save the Amazon Forest?
5pm  Fixing Politics in an Era of Partisanship and Distrust: IOP Fellows Unplugged
7pm  A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter 

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Saturday, February 3
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9:30am  Mass Green Network Third Annual Summit

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Sunday, February 4
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6:30pm  PULSATIONS [BITUMEN]

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Monday, February 5
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12pm  Glacial Tropical Climate Revisited
12pm  Making, breaking and linking memories
4pm  Norton Lecture II, 'The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part II' by Frederick Wiseman
5pm  Askwith Forums – Realizing Human Potential through Education
5:30pm  Labor Policy as the Defining Issue of Our Time: Dunlop Lecture with the Honorable Tom Perez
6pm  When:  The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
6:30pm  Film Screening and Panel: The New Barbarianism
7pm  CHASING COLOR: Art and the Hidden Narratives of Industrial Waste

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Tuesday, February 6
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10am  FAS Diversity Dialogue - Truths About Race
12pm  Speaker Series: Margaret Sullivan
12pm  Governing and Mental Health Policy: Addiction, Poverty, Guns and Prisons
12pm  Three transportation revolutions: Steering sharing, automation, and electrification toward the public interest
12pm  Things Fall Apart: Land Use History, Non-native Insects, Climatic Change, and the Decline of a Forest Foundation Species
12:30pm  The Changing Security Landscape on the Korean Peninsula: Implications for Tokyo, Beijing, and Washington
4pm  Deciphering the human microbiota using chemistry
4:15pm  The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It
5:30pm  Askwith Forums – Immigration, Activism, and DACA: An Evening with Jose Antonio Vargas and Joy Reid
5:30pm  Emerging Professionals for the Environment: Building a Sustainable Business
5:30pm  Ubiquitous Autonomous Vehicles: Upending Industries – Unlocking Entrepreneurial Opportunities
6pm  Hurricane Season 2017: Assessing Public and Private Sector Responses
6pm  Opening Conversation "Where is Cambridge From?" & Annual Meeting
6pm  [MIT CEO] Cryptocurrency and Blockchain - Insights and Opportunities
6pm  Invite to Ignite 2018
6pm  Film screening and discussion: Albatross 
6:30pm  Designing Reality: Authors’ Talk
6:30pm  Hemlock Hospice: Landscape Ecology, Art & Design
7pm  This Narrow Space:  A Pedriatic Oncologist, His Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Patients, and a Hospital in Jerusalem

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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:

Chenoweth’s Law and the 2018 Women’s March

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Monday, January 29
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Arts and Culture Discussion Series #2: Art and Green Infrastructure
Monday, January 29
9:30 AM – 11:30AM 
Breakfast and Registration start at 9 AM.
NEFA, 145 Tremont Street, 7th Floor, Boston

A collaboration between the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC)
Spiral Wetlands | Stacy Levy
You are invited to a discussion about Art and Green Infrastructure, featuring a presentation by EcoArtist Stacy Levy. This is the second in a three-part series of discussions that explore how public art can address a range of planning goals and objectives related to green infrastructure, community building, economic development, and public health. Designed to build more cohesion among artists, arts administrators, and municipal planners, this series is co-hosted by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) in partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).

We are thrilled to host Stacy Levy, a Pennsylvania-based environmental sculptor who uses art as a vehicle for translating the patterns and processes of the natural world. In this discussion, Levy will explore her projects in which she harnesses natural forces including rainwater, plants, and microbes to help create sculptural solutions for storm-water and water pollution issues. Levy’s collaborative and multi-disciplined approach to solving environmental problems leads her to engage with architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, city and state municipalities, scientists, hydrologists, fluid dynamic engineers, geologists, zoologists, and ecologists. Levy will discuss this intersectionality of civic engagement, science, art, and design, and how she finds ways to express and improve the workings of natural systems along waterways, in streets, parking lots, airports and nature centers. More info at www.stacylevy.com.

COST: Free admission; registration required.
CONTACT: Carolyn Lewenberg, clewenberg@mapc.org

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FESTIVAL OF LEARNING
Monday, January 29
9:30am to 5:00pm
MIT, LOBBIES 10 & 13, AND CONFERENCE ROOMS TBD

...a day of learning: national thought-leaders, MIT innovators, cutting-edge entrepreneurs, food, fun, and more. Experience the catalyzing power behind initiatives which transform the way we look at education and revolutionize how we teach and learn.

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Operations Research for Social Good
Monday, January 29
9:30am-4:30pm 
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Description: The applied nature of operations research makes it an important force for good in alleviating poverty; promoting accessible housing; improving health outcomes; and other endeavors that benefit large groups outside academia and industry. In this seminar, we will engage with a wide range of researchers and practitioners tacking these and other topics via data science, optimization, and other contemporary OR methods. 

Schedule:
9:00am-9:30am
COFFEE AND REFRESHMENTS
9:30am-10:15am
Michael Johnson, Professor and Chair, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, UMass Boston 
“Community-engaged operations research: Localized interventions, appropriate methods, social impact”
10:30am-11:15am
Sebastien Martin and Arthur Delarue, PhD Students, MIT, Operations Research Center
“8 months on a school bus”
11:30am-12:15pm
Andrew Therriault, Chief Data Officer, City of Boston 
“Saving the world with data - The case for civic data science”
12:30pm-1:30pm
LUNCH BREAK (NOT PROVIDED)
1:45pm-2:30pm
Edoardo Airoldi, Associate Professor of Statistics, Harvard 
2:45pm-3:30pm
Hamsa Bastani, Goldstine Postdoctoral Fellow, IBM Research
“Mechanism design for social good: Analysis of medicare pay-for-performance contracts”
3:45pm-4:30pm
Marta C. Gonzalez, UC Berkeley, Environmental Design 
“Data science to tackle urban mobility challenges”


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Innovation Day 2018: Megatrends & the Future of #TechinMA
Monday January 29
10:30am-12:00pm
Hall of Flags, Massachusetts State House, Boston

The TechHUB Caucus, co-chaired by Senator Spilka and Representative Ferrante, will host the 4th marquee "Innovation Day" event on January 29th, 2018 at the Massachusetts State House to showcase the tech sector in the Commonwealth. This event aims to educate and excite policymakers and the public about what the local tech sector is building.

Meet leaders from the local tech and startup community and learn about Massachusetts-based companies and organizations leading the digital revolution and future of technology.

The agenda will feature live technology demonstrations running throughout from local tech firms and home-grown startups and a "NextGEN" awards ceremony recognizing key tech companies and organizations contributing to the Massachusetts innovation community and economy.

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Leadership Lessons: Social Entrepreneurship in Africa
WHEN  Monday, Jan. 29, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 414AB, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership
SPEAKER(S)  Claude Grunitzky, Founder of TRUE Africa
COST  Free
DETAILS  The African social entrepreneurship landscape has expanded rapidly in recent years. From health ventures to sustainable energy solutions, Africans are forging new paths across the continent and around the world to stimulate economic growth and social wellbeing. Join us for a discussion on these issues with Claude Grunitzky, founder and editor-in-chief of TRUE Africa, a media platform championing young African voices. Mr. Grunitzky will share leadership lessons from cultivating his own social ventures, and examine the new generation of African social entrepreneurs creating fresh opportunities for the continent. This event will be moderated by SICI Cheng Fellow Dinah Hanson, M.P.P. '18.
Mr. Grunitzky serves as a Hauser Visiting Leader at the HKS Center for Public Leadership and a Visiting Innovator at the HKS Social Innovation + Change Initiative (SICI).
This event is free and open to the public but RSVP is required.

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Leadership – Lessons academics could learn from business schools
Monday, January 29
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building 68-181, 31 Ames Street, Cambridge

Teresa M. Amabile – Professor of Business Administration – Harvard Business School
Carl M. Cohen – President – Science Management Associates
Ann Herrmann-Nehdi – CEO – Herrmann Solutions
Charles E. Leiserson – Professor of Computer Science and Engineering – MIT
John Olson – Director, Genetic Validation – Pfizer

Do you aim to lead a creative, scientific or engineering team in the near future but do not quite know where to start? Come to hear the advice from leadership and mentoring experts on DO and DON’Ts for successful team leadership.

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Sibling cooperation and interparental conflict in a seed: how plant mothers, fathers, and siblings
behave during the act of reproduction in flowering plants
Monday, January 29
12:10 pm
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain

William (Ned) Friedman, Arnold Professor, Harvard University and Arnold Arboretum Faculty Fellow


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Democracy by the Numbers: The Twentieth-Century Fight over US Congressional Reapportionment
Monday, January 29 
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Alma Steingart (Harvard, Society of Fellows).

STS Circle at Harvard

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Who Pays to Save the Planet? A Sectoral Political Economy of Climate Change Mitigation
Monday, January 29
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Tufts, Cabot 702, 170 Packard Avenue, Medford

Alexander Gard-Murray is a doctoral candidate in Politics at the University of Oxford, and a research affiliate with the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at Tufts University's Fletcher School. He works on the comparative political economy, of climate change mitigation.

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Passive House Affordable Housing Forum
Monday, January 29
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM 
MassHousing Boardroom, 1 Beacon Street, Boston

Hear from industry leaders about Passive House, a smart, durable standard that can cost-effectively realize long-term savings for the multifamily affordable housing sector. 

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Conserving Ecosystems and Their Services in a Changing and Uncertain World
Monday, January 29
4:00pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, Room 1080, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Laura Dee, University of Minnesota
Abstract:  Halting the decline of both biodiversity and the benefits ecosystems provide to society (i.e., ecosystem services) is a major challenge for scientists and managers. Meeting both objectives requires an understanding of 1) how global change drivers (e.g., climate, biodiversity, and socioeconomic change) influence each goal, and 2) how pursuing one objective will impact the other. This talk will address these two questions in turn. First, I will present my past and ongoing work on how climate change is impacting ecosystem services, including global fisheries yields, regional timber production in Minnesota, and a broader range of services across systems and scales. Second, I will share my research examining alignment between the objectives of providing ecosystem services and conserving biodiversity. I quantify how alignment depends on uncertainty over links between biodiversity and services, non-random changes in biodiversity, and complex patterns of species interactions. I analyze the two questions from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, leveraging dynamic programming, network theory, and statistics for observational data. This work provides new insights into how global change impacts ecosystem services and when managing for these services can provide the strongest incentives for conservation.

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EAPS IAP 2018: Origin of Life Seminar Series:  "What is “I”: The Role of Compartmentalisation in the Origins of Life"
Monday, January 29
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 54- 915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

Anna Wang | Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University  
The only examples of life (as we know it) have cell membranes. Not only does the membrane delineate individual entities, it also provides a means to sustain a chemical gradient, concentrate small molecules, and provide protection from parasitic genetic polymers that could compromise fitness. Here we’ll look at efforts towards understanding how prebiotically plausible membranes could have formed, what their properties are, and touch on what roles other types of compartmentalisation could have played in life’s origins. We’ll end with a discussion of current efforts to make a protocell - a minimal system comprised of just membrane and RNA - that is capable of growth, division, replication, and evolution.

Our Origin of Life Seminars are a series of hosted lectures from leaders in the Origin of Life community, focusing on various dimensions of one of the most challenging problems in the biological and planetary sciences. Topics include the origin of cells, metabolism, replication and proteins, as well as the geochemical conditions on the Early Earth that led to prebiotic and early biotic systems. Enrolled students will attend 4 seminars during IAP, actively engage in Q & A sessions with invited speakers in a panel format, and collaborate on creating an Origins of Life online blog resource highlighting the work of invited speakers. 

Instructor: Greg Fournier 

FEBRUARY 2 | ROOM E25-605 | 4PM
"The Planetary Battery for the Origins of Life: The Example of Mars"
Vlada Stamenkovic | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech

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Norton Lecture I, 'The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part I' by Frederick Wiseman
WHEN  Monday, Jan. 29, 2018, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Film, Humanities, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  The Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
SPEAKER(S)  Frederick Wiseman
COST  Free
TICKET INFO  Tickets will be available starting at noon on the day of each lecture. Tickets will be available in person at Sanders Theatre or online (handling fees apply). Limit of two tickets per person. Tickets valid until 3:45pm.
CONTACT INFO  humcentr@fas.harvard.edu, 617-496-4955
DETAILS  Wide Angle: The Norton Lectures on Cinema
The Norton Professors in 2018 are AgnĆØs Varda, Wim Wenders, and Frederick Wiseman
Monday, Jan. 29 and Monday, Feb. 5: Frederick Wiseman
The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part I and Part II
Monday, Feb. 26 and Tuesday, Feb. 27: AgnĆØs Varda
The 7th Art and Me and Crossing the Borders
Monday, April 2 and Monday, April 9: Wim Wenders
Poetry in Motion and The Visible and the Invisible

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Diversity and Doctors: The science of inclusive healthcare
Monday, January 29
6:30pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville

Scientists from the Fenway Institute

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Other Minds:  The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Monday, January 29
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The Harvard Square Book Circle, our in-store book club, discusses PETER GODFREY-SMITH's Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, which will be featured in the bookstore's Select Seventy display for the month of January.

About Other Minds
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes. How is it that a creature with such gifts evolved through an evolutionary lineage so radically distant from our own? What does it mean that evolution built minds not once but at least twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?

In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into being―how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.

But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually “think for themselves”? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?

By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind―and on our own.

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NATIONAL GRASSROOTS ACTIVIST SUMMIT on RADIOACTIVE WASTE Summit Planning Call
MONDAY January 29 at 8 pm eastern / 7 central / 6 mountain / 5 pacific
And / OR
Tuesday January 30 at  3 pm eastern / 2 central / 1 mountain / noon pacific
One hour call:  605-475-3235
CODE: 1010808#

Join SUMMIT PLANNERS to your SUMMIT questions in “real time”—we are also interested in hearing your ideas and suggestions.

Check out the DRAFT Program—you can access a LINK to it here:

Hope to speak with you soon, and see you in Chicago!

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Tuesday, January 30
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Natural Gas Infrastructure and Public Health: From Local to Global
Tuesday, January 30
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST
BU, Photonics Center, 8 St Mary's Street, Boston

Please join us for a discussion regarding the health impacts of natural gas infrastructure (NGI) and the role of public health officials in this topic.
The event is co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, Boston University School of Public Health, Massachusetts Medical Society, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, Health Care Without Harm, Mass Health Professionals for Clean Energy, and Physicians for Policy Action.

Speakers will include Drs. Ari Bernstein, Jonathan Buonocore, Elissa Wilker, and Drew Michanowicz of the Harvard School of Public Health; Drs. Jonathan Levy and Madeleine Scammel of the Boston University School of Public Health; Dr. Nathan Phillips of Boston University; and Dr. Mary Rice of Harvard Medical School.
Donations will be accepted at the door (suggested donation of $20). Thank you!

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MIT Green Labs Info Session
Tuesday, January 30
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Building 76-659, 500 Main Street, Cambridge

Informational session about MIT's Green Labs Program. Will include details on the assessment process for certification, participating in the LEAC energy assessment program and review information on lab recycling. Please register as food will be provided.

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Turkey and the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Responses and Perspectives
WHEN  Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Wasserstein 3019, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change
SPEAKER(S)  Zulfukar Aytac Kisman
DETAILS  Since 2011, Turkey has received more than three million Syrian refugees, the largest community of Syrians displaced by the conflict. This has had significant economic, political, security, social, and foreign policy challenges for Turkey. This talk will focus on the Syrian refugee crisis from Turkey’s perspective and analyze the Turkish response to the crisis.

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Threatening Whiteness: Islam’s Challenge to American White Supremacy
Tuesday, January 30
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Northeastern, Holmes Hall, 270, 39-41 Leon Street, Boston

WGSS Visiting Scholar Megan Prince Goodwin 

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The Bush, The Barn, and One Health Approaches to Pandemic Preparedness
Tuesday, January 30
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HGHI, 42 Church Street, Cambridge

Jonathan Quick, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Management Sciences for Health, will present as part of the Pandemic Seminar Series hosted by the Harvard Global Health Institute. The theme for this semester is "One Health Approaches to Disease Outbreaks." 

Jonathan D. Quick, MD, MPH, is Senior Fellow Emeritus at Management Sciences for Health (MSH), where he previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer from 2004-2017. In January of 2017 he transitioned to the role of Senior Fellow. A family physician and health management specialist, Dr. Quick focuses on global health security.

Dr. Quick was Director of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy at the World Health Organization from 1996 to 2003. Prior to that, he served with MSH as founding director of the drug management program/center for pharmaceutical management, then as a long-term advisor for the Afghanistan Health Sector Support Project and the Kenya Health Care Financing Project.

On January 30th, 2018 Dr. Quick's book The End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It will be released. For more information please see: www.endofepidemics.com. 

One Health recognizes that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment. The goal of One Health is to encourage the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to achieve the best health for people, animals, and our environment.

Lunch will be provided. Registration required. 

Contact Name:  global_health@harvard.edu

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Legal Considerations for Blockchain Innovations and ICOs
Tuesday, January 30
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th Floor Havana Room One Broadway, Cambridge
Cost:  $5 - $20

Attendees at this event will learned about:

What are the IP strategies for protecting blockchain innovations?
What are the potential open source licensing issues for decentralized apps using the major blockchain platforms?
What alternative paths are possible for monetization of new blockchain developments?
How can a company benefit from an ICO or blockchain technology?
Is an ICO worthwhile to your company?
When does an ICO fall within SEC regulation?

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RNA as medicine
Tuesday, January 30
1pm -2pm
MIT, Building 76-156, KI Auditorium

Melissa Moore, Chief Scientific Officer, mRNA Research Platform at Moderna Therapeutics Inc.

Biology at Transformative Frontiers
2nd Talk in the Series


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Special Harvard Climate Seminar: Climate Dynamics of Lava Planets
Tuesday, January 30
3:00pm
HUCE Seminar Room MCZ 440, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Raymond Pierrehumbert


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Multi-Host Fungal Pathogens: Challenges and Opportunities in Conserving Global Amphibian Diversity
Tuesday, January 30
4:00pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, Room 1080, 16 Divinity Avenue

Ana Longo, University of Maryland
Abstract:  The rapid spread of infectious diseases in humans, wildlife and crops is posing novel challenges in the way and speed that we traditionally respond to biological threats. Recent die-offs of sea-stars, amphibians and bats demonstrate that the emergence of multi-host pathogens leaves a clear trace of disease-driven loss of biodiversity in natural habitats and impacts ecosystem function and stability. My research aims to identify and quantify the ecological factors and evolutionary processes involved in species persistence during and after disease outbreaks. In this talk, I discuss the impacts of two fungal pathogens: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal). These skin fungi are causing mass mortality events and population declines of amphibians around the world. Bd currently infects more than 500 of amphibian species globally. In contrast, B. salamandrivorans is restricted to Europe and Asia and has not been found in the United States. However, it is predicted to emerge there given the presence of competent hosts, high volume import pathways, and the lack of effective biosecurity measures to control introductions of wildlife pathogens. I will examine host-pathogen interactions in different stages including disease emergence in a naĆÆve amphibian community and during seasonal cycles of epidemic/endemic pathogen dynamics. I conclude by highlighting the opportunities to develop proactive measures to prevent Bsal from entering the United States and the New World.
See also: OEB Seminars

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Askwith Debates – Beyond “Free College”: Improving Opportunity and Success at Community Colleges
WHEN  Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT  Alumni, Askwith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM  Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Roger Falcon
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
FEATURED EVENT  Askwith Forums
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
DETAILS  Moderator: Bridget Terry Long, Saris Professor of Education and Economics
Speakers:
David Deming, professor of education and economics, HGSE 
Andrew Kelly, senior vice president, strategy and policy, University of North Carolina System 
Deborah Santiago, chief operating officer and vice president for policy, Excelencia in Education 
Josh Wyner, founder and executive director, College Excellence Program and vice president, The Aspen Institute 
It is a changing time for higher education – between tax legislation that may impact institutions’ financial futures, a potential reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and a tumultuous labor market that calls for workers with greater skills. Amid these uncertainties is the ongoing debate: Should college be free? Some states, like New York and Tennessee, have implemented free tuition programs for community colleges. But some believe that simply making college free will not address issues of completion and success after college. Saris Professor Bridget Terry Long will moderate a debate with leading experts about the future of community colleges in our country – from the free college movement and how to improve community college opportunities and outcomes, to how to better support and help students with the challenges they face.

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Design for Inman Square and Vellucci Plaza Community Meeting
Tuesday, January 30
6 pm 
Cambridge Public Library Community Room, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

According to the announcement, this new design will both "minimize" intrusion on Vellucci Plaza and assure safety and access for users of the intersection. 

In November we met with the City Manager, his top staff and Councilor Jan Devereux and then Councilor-elect Quinton Zondervan to request an alternative design that preserves the six large trees that define the plaza. It is a big step in the right direction that the City has gone back to the drawing board. Your support for our letter to the City Manager helped make this happen. Thank you!

Now we need to make sure that the new design is a good one and convince the City Manager and City Council that it is the right choice for the future of Inman Square.

Please save the date to come to the meeting next Tuesday to show your continued support for the trees and Vellucci Park.

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The Revolution in American Trade Policy
WHEN  Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
SPEAKER(S) Michael B. Froman, United States Trade Representative (2013-2017), Klein Fellowship in Economic Diplomacy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, HKS, Faculty Director, Future of Diplomacy Project; Faculty Chair, Middle East Initiative, HKS
Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University, Co-Director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School
CONTACT INFO 617-495-1380

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Building Climate Resilient Communities
Tuesday, January 30
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston
Cost:  $10

Curious how climate change will impact Boston and Cambridge?
Join Charles River Watershed Association for a lecture on Climate Resiliency. CRWA Director of Blue Cities, Pallavi Kalia Mande, a leading authority on water centric urban design and planning, will showcase the Blue Cities approach and strategies for building resilience to extreme storms, increasing flooding and the resulting water quality impacts to the River. Focusing on parts of Boston and Cambridge that drain into the Charles, Pallavi will discuss her Blue Cities work that includes demonstration projects, planning, design, advocacy, public outreach, and collaboration around building resilient communities.

Drinks and light refreshments will be served.

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Boston Green Drinks - JANUARY 2018 Happy Hour
Tuesday, January 30
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
The Ginger Man, 148 State Street, Boston

Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community!
New Location! Take note that this is being held at a different location (The Ginger Man) than we historically have held Green Drinks! We will be in the back room - walk past the bar and you'll be there. 

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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The MIT Forum: Andre Borschberg SM ’83 pilot and co-founder of the Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered flight around the world
Tuesday, January 30
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
MIT, Samberg Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Cost: $10 per person (alumni and guests), includes appetizers and beer/wine. 

Join fellow MIT alumni for a special MIT Forum event featuring AndrĆ© Borschberg SM '83, CEO, co-founder and pilot of Solar Impulse and co-founder of H55. Borschberg will discuss the new Nova series chronicling his circumnavigation of the globe in a solar plane and his dreams and ambitions for a new project focused on the future of energy and aviation.

Borschberg's talk will be followed by a fireside chat with MIT Technology Review editor David Rotman,, audience Q&A, and reception with drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres. 

MIT alumni and guests are welcome. Space is limited—register today. 

Event details:
6:00 p.m. Registration and networking
6:30 p.m. Program
7:30 p.m. Reception and networking
u8:30 p.m. Event ends

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To Fight Against This Age:  On Fascism and Humanism
Tuesday, January 30
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store, WBUR, and Mass Humanities welcome writer and cultural philosopher ROB RIEMEN―founder of the Nexus Institute―for a discussion of his latest book, To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism. He will be joined in conversation by CHRISTOPHER LYDON, host of WBUR's radio program Open Source.

About To Fight Against This Age
An international bestseller, To Fight Against This Age consists of two beautifully written, cogent, and urgent essays about the rise of fascism and the ways in which we can combat it.

In “The Eternal Return of Fascism,” Rob Riemen explores the theoretical weakness of fascism, which depends on a politics of resentment, the incitement of anger and fear, xenophobia, the need for scapegoats, and its hatred of the life of the mind. He draws on history and philosophy as well as the essays and novels of Thomas Mann and Albert Camus to explain the global resurgence of fascism, often disguised by its false promises of ushering in freedom and greatness.

Riemen’s own response to what he sees as the spiritual crisis of our age is articulated in “The Return of Europa,” a moving story about the meaning of European humanism with its universal values of truth, beauty, justice, and love for life―values that are the origin and basis of a democratic civilization.

To Fight Against This Age is as timely as it is timeless, to be read by those who want to understand and change the world in which they live.

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The Wizard and the Prophet
Tuesday, January 30
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge

Charles Mann
From the best-selling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493--an incisive portrait of the two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped our ideas about the environment, laying the groundwork for how people in the twenty-first century will choose to live in tomorrow's world.

In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups--Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose. The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win. Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces--food, water, energy, climate change--grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.

Charles C. Mann, a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired, has also written for Fortune, the New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, the Washington Post, as well as the TV network HBO and the series Law & Order. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is the recipient of writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation.

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“What Should We Talk About When We Talk About Health?”
Tuesday, January 30
7:00pm to 8:00pm, Lecture - 7-7:30PM | Q&A - 7:30-8PM
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge

Speaker: Sandro Galea, M.D. | Robert A Knox Professor and Dean of School of Public Health | Boston University
Why do we care so much about health, spend so much money on it, and yet do worse at it than essentially any other peer country? Why have we been spending ever more on health and getting ever less healthy as a country? It is, at heart, because we are thinking about our health the wrong way. We keep thinking that to improve our health we can focus only on me, on the individual. And therefore, if only I took care of my lifestyle, and I invested enough money to make sure I have the right medicine when I need it, I am going to be healthier and life longer. And that is the wrong approach. If we want to make sure we promote health, we need to look beyond medicine, beyond how we can make ourselves better once we are already sick and think carefully about the forces around us that create a healthy world. We need to understand the aspects of the world that can genuinely get us on the path towards healthy living and keep us there. And to do so we need to talk about some very different things than we talk about right now when we talk about health. We need to talk about money, power, politics, pain and pleasure, what we value, how we live, and about where we live. We need to change our script on health. This presentation is a step in that direction.

About the Speaker
Dr. Galea is a physician and an epidemiologist. He is the Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean at the Boston University School of Public Health. Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Dr Galea served as the Gelman Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He previously held academic and leadership positions at the University of Michigan and at the New York Academy of Medicine. In his scholarship, Dr Galea is centrally interested in the social production of health of urban populations, with a focus on the causes of brain disorders, particularly common mood-anxiety disorders and substance abuse. 

He has long had a particular interest in the consequences of mass trauma and conflict worldwide, including as a result of the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, and the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This work has been principally funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several foundations. He has published over 650 scientific journal articles, 50 chapters, and 12 books and his research has been featured extensively in current periodicals and newspapers. His latest book, co-authored with Dr Katherine Keyes, is Population Health Science, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. Dr Galea has a medical degree from the University of Toronto, and graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University; he has an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow. He was named one of TIME magazine’s epidemiology innovators and has been listed by Thomson Reuters as one of the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” for the Social Sciences. 

He is past-president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and of the American Epidemiological Society. Dr Galea has received several lifetime achievement awards for this research, including the Rema Lapouse Award from the American Public Health Association and the Robert S Laufer Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress. He is a regular contributor to Fortune magazine and has published widely in lay press including in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the Boston Globe, and The New York Times. His research has been cited in these journals and in BBC, Slate, WBUR, and NPR, among others. Dr Galea serves frequently on advisory groups to national and international organizations. He currently serves on the Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities and has formerly served as chair of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Community Services Board and as member of its Health Board.

Science for the Public: Science Literacy Lecture Series
This series is hosted by Science for the Public - a grassroots nonprofit organization committed to improving public understanding of, and appreciation for, science. Visit the Science for the Public website for science info and for videos of other programs featuring outstanding scientists:  http://scienceforthepublic.org
For scientists interested in sharing their work, please contact Yvonne Stapp (yvonne@scienceforthepublic.org).

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Wednesday, January 31
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Together We Build, Together We Rise
Wednesday, January 31
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
UMass Boston, 100 William Morrissey Boulevard, Campus Center, Dorchester

Please join us for networking and a dialogue with Professors Amy Cook, Counseling and School Psychology, Kenneth Reardon, Urban Planning and Community Development, and Paul Watanabe, Political Science and Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies who respectively obtained awards in 2017 for their commitment to community collaborations, as well as organizational leaders across Boston with whom the university partners.
Our featured partners include:
Beth Chandler, Interim President and CEO, YW Boston
Chuck Jones, President & Chief Executive Officer, Harbor Health Services
Lydia Lowe, Director, Chinatown Community Land Trust
Mark Culliton, Chief Executive Officer, College Bound Dorchester
Turahn Dorsey, Chief of Education for Mayor Martin Walsh, City of Boston
This fireside chat will be facilitated by national Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn and will be an opportunity for deeper dialogue about community based partnerships, the role of the university in the greater community and how we can engage in building “the beloved city” with integral partners.
Coffee and networking will open at 9:30am, the program will begin promptly at 10:00am.

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The oceans in a warming world
Wednesday, January 31
11:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge

A talk by John Marshall, MIT
In this lecture we will touch on some of the above questions and review how scientists observe patterns of warming propagating down in to the ocean's interior, how the ocean is responding to that warming and what we think the future holds and why.

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The Atmospheric Signature of ENSO [El NiƱo and the Southern Oscillation]
Wednesday, January 31
12:00PM
Harvard, Haller Hall (102), Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences present John Michael Wallace, Professor Emeritus, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington

Abstract: The signature of ENSO provides textbook examples of some of the processes that shape the atmospheric general circulation. Research of Sir Gilbert Walker a century ago and Jacob Bjerknes 50 years ago were instrumental drawing attention to this remarkable phenomenon. With the benefit of state-of-the art global reanalysis datasets, we are in a position define and diagnose it with an unprecedented level of confidence and clarity. I will touch on two examples:(1) the axisymmetric signature, marked by fluctuations in atmospheric angular momentum and tropical tropospheric temperature, and (2) the anomalous planetary wave signature that develops in response to SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific. In both cases, I will describe the features of interest, offer a dynamical interpretation, and attempt to generalize the results to achieve a broader understanding of the atmospheric general circulation.

Contact Name:  Sabinna Cappo
Harvard Climate Seminar 

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“The Thunderous Consonance of Drums”: Black Festivity in Colonial Brazil
WHEN  Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
SPEAKER(S)  Genevieve E. Dempsey, Ethnomusicologist and Musician
COST  Free & open to the public
DETAILS  A Q+A session will follow the talk.

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The Nexus of Green Building, Public Health and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
Wednesday, January 31
1 pm
Harvard Global Health Institute, 42 Church Street, Cambridge

Join the Harvard Global Health Institute for their Climate Change and Global Health seminar series featuring Professor Joseph Allen.

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China's Top 1000 and 10,000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program: Effectiveness, Compliance, and Lessons
Wednesday, January 31
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge

CAO Jing, Visiting Scholar, Harvard-China Project; Associate Professor, Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University

China Project Seminar 

Contact Name:   Tiffany Chan

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Water Management for Future Climate Scenarios
Wednesday, January 31
3:30pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building E51-095, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Water quality and water supply reliability are challenged by climate change in ways that affect livelihoods and ecosystems alike.  In fact, climate’s influence on water can already be seen through declining groundwater recharge; increased sedimentation and water contamination; intensified droughts, as well as many other indicators.  While examples of these challenges manifest at an increasing rate across the globe, demand for water rises as well.  Given the short- and long-term uncertainty and the regional-differences in ways climate affects water systems, what is to be done?  Join MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) for a panel that features research by MIT graduate students and postdocs that addresses this challenging water management issue. 

Presenters include:
Sarah Fletcher, PhD candidate, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, and 2017-2018 Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellow for Water Solutions
Julian Koelbel, Postdoc, Sloan School of Management
Christina Legg, MCP candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Cindy Noe, MPA/MBA candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Sloan School of Management
Tyler Swingle, M.Arch candidate in the Department of Architecture
Panel moderated by Janelle Heslop, dual degree SM/MBA candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Sloan School of Management

*Light refreshments will be provided

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Charles Murray and the Alt Right as History
WHEN  Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, CGIS South S020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, A Research Cluster on Global Transformations and the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History
SPEAKER(S)  Janet Helms, Augustus Long Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology and Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, Boston College
Stuart Schrader, Postdoctoral Fellow in Global American Studies, Harvard University
Quinn Slobodian, ACLS Frederick Burkhardt Fellow, Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University/Associate Professor of History, Wellesley College
Adam van Arsdale, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Wellesley College
Moderator: Kirsten Weld, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University
DETAILS  Scholars from four disciplines discuss the origins and consequences of the resurgence of scientific categories of race in right-wing thought.

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Applying Asset Pricing Theory to Calibrate the Price of Climate Risk
Wednesday, January 31
4:15pm
Harvard, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Kent Daniel, Columbia University, Robert Litterman, Kepos Capital, and Gernot Wagner, Harvard University

Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy

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Opioids and the Masses: Early Lessons from the Epidemic
Wednesday, January 31
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm 
BU, 72 East Concord Street, Hiebert Lounge, Boston
Live streaming available

Sally Satel, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute and Consulting Psychiatrist, Partners in Drug Abuse Rehabilitation and Counseling Clinic
The opioid crisis is unprecedented in its lethality and demography. Fentanyl and other synthetics have turbo-charged the death rate. As federal, state, and local governments grapple with solutions, they have encountered both promising strategies and unexpected difficulties; among the latter are the challenges of engaging patients in treatment, the paradoxes of naloxone administration, the provision of quality care in office-based, medication-assisted treatment, and the rational use of opioid painkillers where needed while curtailing over-prescribing. This talk will focus on the policy and treatment implications of these clinical realities within the larger context of social and cultural drivers of addiction.

Contact Email eventsph@bu.edu

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CSAIL Wellness Colloquium: Nutrition Research is Confusing. How Much Does it Actually Matter What You Eat?
Wednesday, January 31
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Refreshments: 5:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-G449, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Susan Roberts , Professor of Nutrition, Tufts University and founder of the iDiet weight loss program 
Nutrition has become one of the media’s most sensational topics, with widely divergent views about how much healthy food really matters, what is healthy, and when and how to eat. This talk will provide guidance on all these topics, and will also offer some simple ways to triage nutrition research information in the media. 

Roberts is an internationally-recognized nutrition and weight management researcher, and developed the online iDiet program which is proven to achieve high levels of weight loss with novel retrain-your-brain methodology. In her research lab at the USDA Nutrition Center at Tufts University she studies how to make weight loss easier and more sustainable. She has more than 250 research publications in scientific journals, three popular books, and has been a member of Institute of Medicine committees making national dietary recommendations

Contact: Victoria Palay, 617-253-8924, palay@csail.mit.edu

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Science Advocacy Media Training
Wednesday, January 31
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 4-149, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge

The media world can be difficult to navigate. Journalists have a small amount of space to cover complex scientific topics in a 24-hour news cycle, and scientific expertise has never been in higher demand in mainstream media. Members of Congress keep a close eye on media coverage, to keep a 'pulse' on issues of importance to their constituents.

This training, led by Union of Concerned Scientists Communications Officer Seth Michaels, will offer strategies for influencing public and political opinion on science, environmental, and climate policy through media engagement, including letters to the editor, op-eds, and social media. Letters to the editor—shorter than an abstract and more widely read—are fantastic ways to voice your expert opinion on current political issues.

Leave with an op-ed or letter to the editor and make your voice heard on critical issues for the scientific community and the world!

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State of the Union…of Concerned Scientists—Telephone Briefing
Wednesday, January 31
7:00–8:00 p.m. EST
Webinar

Join the Union of Concerned Scientists and UCS President Ken Kimmell as we kick off 2018 with a telephone briefing, and get the inside scoop on defending science this year.

The night before our call, President Trump will offer his first State of the Union address with his vision for our country.

Please register today and join our briefing the next day, January 31, to hear our vision: how we're going to defend against the greatest threats against science; how we're going to keep making progress towards our long-term goals of protecting our environment and the health and well-being of Americans; and how we're building a stronger movement of scientists and science advocates that come together to make lasting, positive, change.

You'll even have the opportunity to sign up on the spot to become a Science Champion and get the latest intel on the most pressing attacks and the tools and trainings to make a difference.

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How Democracies Die
Wednesday, January 31
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome Harvard University Professors of Government STEVEN LEVITSKY and DANIEL ZIBLATT for a discussion of their new book, How Democracies Die.

About How Democracies Die
Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. 

Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved.

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Fossil Free Fast: The Climate Resistance
Wednesday, January 31
8pm EST
Livestream

On January 31st, the day after Trump’s first State of the Union, our movement will come together for Fossil Free Fast: The Climate Resistance.

Movement leaders including Senator Bernie Sanders, Varshini Prakash of the Sunrise Movement, Rev. Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus, Jessica Lorena Rangel of Houston Eyes of a Dreamer, Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, and many more will deliver the state of our climate movement. They will share stories on the urgency of the current political and climate crises, and light our path ahead: resist the Trump Administration’s ongoing attacks on our climate, build power towards the 2018 and 2020 elections, and secure the lasting change we need through local action.

Together, we will end the use of fossil fuels and usher in the fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all

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Thursday, February 1
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2018 Renewable Energy Conference
Thursday, February 1
8 AM to 6 PM
Newton Marriott Hotel, 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, Auburndale

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Regulatory Reform and Individual Liberty
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Bell Hall (5th Floor Belfer), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
SPEAKER(S)  Neomi Rao, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
CONTACT INFO mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu

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Redistributing Power:  Energy Democracy, Renewables & Community Resilience
Thursday, February 1
12:00-1:00pm 
Tufts, Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford

Jennie Stephens, Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy, Northeastern University
Energy democracy is an emergent social movement advancing renewable energy transitions by resisting the dominant fossil-fuel based energy agenda while reclaiming and democratically restructuring energy policy. By focusing on the potential for renewable-based energy systems to redistribute economic and political power as well as electric power, the energy democracy movement is shifting energy policy discourse and connecting it with social justice and community resilience.

Jennie C. Stephens is the Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and the Associate Director of Strategic Research Collaborations at Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute. Her research, teaching, and community engagement focus on social and political aspects of the renewable energy transition, energy democracy, reducing fossil fuel reliance, gender diversity, and strengthening societal resilience by integrating social justice with climate and energy policy. Before joining Northeastern University, she was on the faculty at the University of Vermont and Clark University. She earned her PhD and MS at Caltech in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA at Harvard in Environmental Science & Public Policy.

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A Road Less-Traveled: Feminism and Advocacy in Saudi Arabia
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Wasserstein 1023, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change
SPEAKER(S)  Hala Aldosari
DETAILS  Hala Aldosari, women’s rights activist and scholar, will discuss ten key messages for feminists and activists struggling to make a difference. Beyond describing the advocacy and public campaigns in Saudi Arabia, the talk will draw on significant personal insights and reflections, and provide a snapshot of an eventful journey that is attempting to organize thought and action.

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Self-Driving Cars: Pros and Cons for the Public's Health
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Leadership Studio, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S)  EXPERT PARTICIPANTS
Deborah Hersman, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Safety Council
John Leonard, Vice President for Driving Research, Toyota Research Institute
Peter Sweatman, Executive Advisor for the Connected and Automated Vehicle Business Unit, CAVita
Jay Winsten, Frank Stanton Director of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Associate Dean for Health Communication
MODERATOR  David Freeman, Editorial Director, NBC News MACH
TICKET INFO  Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO To attend the studio audience, please RSVP to theforum@hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS  No longer the stuff of science fiction, driverless cars already are being tested in numerous U.S. markets. These autonomous vehicles may revolutionize the automotive world, removing human error from driving, reshaping transportation systems and transforming the country’s roadway infrastructure. In fact, existing technology such as collision avoidance systems and vehicle backup cameras represent steps towards a more automated future. Yet such progress also raises questions regarding regulations, ethics and safety management. In this Forum, experts will review current technology, realistic long-term plans, and the risks and benefits of a driverless future to the public.

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Getting Away with Mass Murder: The Logic of Atrocity Denials
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, One Brattle Square, Room 350, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S)  Kate Cronin-Furman, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Security Program
DETAILS  An International Security Program Brown bah Seminar

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Health and Safety Issues of Nanomaterials
Thursday, February 1
1:00pm to 2:30pm
MIT, EHS Office, BuildingN52-496 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge9

The exciting field of nanotechnology is creating the next industrial revolution in engineering. It is also creating the new field of nanotoxicology. Are nanoparticles more toxic than dust particles we normally work with? Could carbon nanotubes possibly be the next asbestos? Come find out what we know and don't know and how to work safely in your laboratory with nanomaterials. 

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Shifting Fire Regimes and Their Compounding Impact on Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
Thursday, February 1
4:00pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, Room 1080, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge

Adam Pellegrini, Stanford University
Abstract: Each year, fires burn ~570 million hectares, producing carbon losses that are equivalent to ~20% of the emissions from anthropogenic fossil fuel consumption. After fire, the recovery of plants can offset these losses by sequestering carbon during regrowth. Long-term shifts in fire regimes may change the balance between losses and recovery, but multiple factors restrict our ability to forecast such changes. Here, I will present data that address the uncertainty in how soils respond to long-term changes in fire regimes, the potential link between soil and plant responses, and how plant traits may structure these fire-plant-soil interactions. My results demonstrate that more frequent burning leads to decadal alterations in soil carbon and nutrients, and that effects vary predictably based on ecosystem type, the amount of time fire regimes have been altered, and the physicochemical properties of elements. Further data illustrate the potential for fire-nutrient interactions to influence the ability of ecosystems to recover by regulating plant productivity and the trait composition of the plant community. I will conclude by discussing the utility of certain plant traits in predicting the resilience of ecosystems to fire in modelling contexts.

OEB Special Seminar

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Agents of Change' Film Screening and Discussion
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, 1010 Classroom, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice
SPEAKER(S)  Filmmakers Frank Dawson and Abby Ginzberg
COST  Free and open to the public
DETAILS  From the well-publicized events at San Francisco State in 1968 to the image of black students with guns emerging from the takeover of the student union at Cornell University in April 1969, the struggle for a more relevant and meaningful education, including demands for black and ethnic studies programs, became a clarion call across the country in the late 1960s. Through the stories of these young men and women who were at the forefront of these efforts, "Agents of Change" examines the untold story of the racial conditions on college campuses and in the country that led to these protests. The film’s characters were caught at the crossroads of the civil rights, black power, and anti-Vietnam war movements at a pivotal time in America’s history. Today, over 45 years later, many of the same demands are surfacing in campus protests across the country, revealing how much work remains to be done.
"Agents of Change" links the past to the present and the present to the past–making it not just a movie but a movement.

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Combinatorics & Complexity Public Talk - Jacob Fox
WHEN  Thursday, February 1, 2018, 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)  Jacob Fox (Standford University)
DETAILS  Jacob Fox will give a public lecture as part of the Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications' Combinatorics & Complexity program.
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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A Conversation with Senator Dick Durbin
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
SPEAKER(S)  Dick Durbin, United States Senator, Illinois
Bill Delahunt (moderator), Acting Director, Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School, Former United States Representative, Massachusetts
CONTACT INFO 617-495-1380

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Gutman Library Distinguished Author Series: Addicted to Reform
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Gutman Conference Center - Area 3, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Gutman Library
SPEAKER(S)  John Merrow, Ed.D.’73, author and former education correspondent for PBS NewsHour
DETAILS  In "Addicted to Reform," John Merrow argues that current school reform efforts are too focused on “symptoms” like graduation rates instead of the root cause of our problems: an antiquated approach to schooling that cannot fulfill the needs of the twenty-first century. Year after year, we rely on standards like Common Core that place unfair burdens on students and under-resourced public schools. We launch reforms that ask “heroic teachers” to compensate for societal problems like poverty and inequality. And just when modern technologies allow students to move at individual speeds and different levels, we reduce kids to test scores, producing graduates who never learn to ask questions, dig deep, or discover and follow their passions.

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Does Mindfulness Alter the Brain? The Impact Meditation has on Our Brains
Thursday, February 1
6:30pm
Aeronaut, 14 Tyler Street, Somerville

Sara Lazar


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"All the Queen's Horses" Film Screening and Panel Discussion
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Wiener Auditorium, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HKS Center for Public Leadership
SPEAKER(S)  Opening Remarks:  Professor Max Bazerman, HBS Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration
Panelists:
Moderator: Eugene Soltes, HBS Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration
Kelly Richmond Pope, Director and Producer, "All the Queen's Horses" and Associate Professor, School of Accountancy and MIS at DePaul University
Gordon Quinn, Executive Producer, "All the Queen's Horses" and Founder and Artistic Director, Kartemquin Films
DIRECTED BY  Kelly Richmond Pope
DETAILS  As city comptroller of Dixon, IL, Rita Crundwell stole $53 million of public funds across 20 years––making her the perpetrator of the largest case of municipal fraud in American history. She used the funds to build one of the nation's leading quarter horse breeding empires, all while forcing staff cuts, police budget slashing, and neglect of public infrastructure. "All the Queen's Horses" investigates her crime, her lavish lifestyle and the small town she left in her wake.
Join us for a screening of "All the Queen's Horses," followed by a panel discussion about the film and its themes. Refreshments will be served.

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Dr Jonathan Quick in conversation w/Dr Ashish Jha - THE END OF EPIDEMICS
Thursday, February 1
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge

Experts estimate there is currently a greater than 50% likelihood in our lifetime of a catastrophic pandemic – one that could easily reach a first-world city or town. An airborne superbug could spread from patient zero to 300 million people in just six months, resulting in 30 million deaths, massive social upheaval, and hit the global economy with the force of the Great Recession – or worse.We as a nation and a global community are not prepared to prevent or combat such a pandemic. But we could be. We could even put an end to such catastrophic pandemics. THE END OF EPIDEMICS: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It by Dr. Jonathan D. Quick, Management Sciences for Health Senior Fellow and Harvard Medical School faculty member details exactly how.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DR. JONATHAN D. QUICK is Senior Fellow and former President and CEO at Management Sciences for Health in Boston. He is on the faculty of the Department of Global Health at Harvard Medical School and the Boston University School of Public Health. He is Chair of the Global Health Council and has applied his global health expertise in more than seventy countries over four decades and counting. He lives in Massachusetts.

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Weathering the Storm:  Building Resilience to Extreme Precipitation
Thursday, February 1
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Museum of Science, Museum of Science Driveway, Boston

What should communities do to become more resilient to storms and extreme precipitation events like Sandy, Maria, and Irma? Consider the perspectives of diverse stakeholders and discuss the trade-offs of various strategies as you make recommendations for increasing a generalized community's future resilience.

Join us for an interactive program using visualizations to explore potential vulnerabilities to a community's infrastructures, social networks, and ecosystems from extreme precipitation events, then discuss potential strategies for addressing these threats, focusing on the priorities and needs of relevant stakeholders.

This event is for adult audiences (18+).

To reserve tickets for groups larger than four people, please email forumrsvp@mos.org.

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Friday & Saturday, February 2 & 3
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Tufts Energy Conference
Friday & Saturday, February 2 & 3
The Fletcher School at Tufts University, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
Cost:  $15 - $150

Calling all energy futurists! 

This year's conference will offer a forum for cross-sector discourse on the challenges and opportunities associated with meeting national and international energy and environmental demands in the short, medium, and long-term. 

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Friday, February 2
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How Can Intermediaries Help Accelerate Social Change?
Friday, February 2
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Social Innovation Forum, One Congress Street, Suite 113, Boston

Curious about how capacity building organizations work in the social impact space? Join us for this thoughtful and interactive session examining the role intermediaries play in the social sector. Panelists representing local, national, and international programs will explore how their work can help advance the goals of both donors and nonprofit organizations.

MODERATOR
Stephanie Dodson Cornell
Managing Director, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

PANELISTS
Susan Musinsky
Executive Director, Social Innovation Forum
Ben Powell
Founder and CEO, Agora Partnerships
Shruti Sehra
Managing Partner, Reimagine Learning Fund and Early Learning Fund, New Profit
Note: Selected nonprofits who have participated with intermediaries will be on hand to share thoughts and experiences.
8:00 - 8:30 am | Breakfast
8:30 - 10:00 am | Session

This event it targeted toward potential investors and supporters in the social impact space.

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Do Regulatory Platforms Drive Evolutionary Innovation?
Friday, February 2
8:30PM TO 9:30PM
Harvard, Classroom 375 (formerly Room 310), 3rd floor, Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Niels Bradshaw (FAS-MCB) 
Coffee, tea, and pastries will be served.

MSI Chalk-Talk
Contact Name:   Monica McCallum

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MIT on Chaos and Climate:  Centenary Celebration of Jule Charney and Ed Lorenz
Friday, February 2
8:30AM – 5:30PM
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Ames Street, Cambridge

A scientific symposium presented by the Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, and co-sponsored by the Lorenz Center and the Houghton Fund, featuring presentations by colleagues from across MIT and the scientific community.

FULL AGENDA ONLINE: http://bit.ly/charney-lorenz-full

For more information: John Marshall | jmarsh@mit.edu -or- Faith Zhang | fhzhang@mit.edu

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Mapathon for Puerto Rico
Friday, February 2
1:00PM-4:00PM
MIT, Building 14N-132, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Building upon the recent success of a student-driven mapathon, the Libraries is hosting a third session for people to use the OpenStreetMap platform to help hurricane relief efforts. The Red Cross in Puerto Rico has requested two tasks we can help with for their relief efforts: (i) mapping buildings and (ii) pre-disaster imagery to give an operating picture of the island before the hurricane made landfall. If you're interested in participating, please bring your laptops!

Contact: Sofia Leung, sofial@mit.edu

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Origin of Life Seminar Series:  The Planetary Battery for the Origins of Life: The Example of Mars"
Friday, February 2
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building E25-605, 45 Carleton, Cambridge

Vlada Stamenkovic | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech
A rocky planet can act as a battery fueling the origins and the evolution of life by locally providing redox gradients that can drive simple metabolic activity. In this talk, I will use Mars as an example to show first results on two very different planetary processes that generate oxygen- and hydrogen-rich surface and subsurface aqueous environments in an evolving planet.

On one hand of the redox spectrum (reducing), I will show how novel and fast geodynamic interior evolution models can be used to compute the local production of hydrogen and methane through processes like serpentinization and radiolysis of water in the Martian lithosphere across the last 4.5 billion years. We will see that specific zones on Mars had and still have the capability to generate hydrogen fluxes likely large enough to support microbial communities — with the availability of subsurface water being the greatest uncertainty. On the other hand of the redox spectrum (oxidizing), I explore how atmosphere-brine interactions governed by climate and low-temperature surface chemistry suggest the existence of shallow oxygen-rich briny environments on Mars today and in its past. I will show that oxygen concentrations in such brines (especially in perchlorates) can be large enough to sustain aerobic metabolic activity and that the availability of such aerobic environments likely varied with obliquity cycles on timescales of thousands of years.

I will show time-dependent spatial maps of such hydrogen- and oxygen-rich oases on Mars, explain what controls their formation and temporal evolution, and discuss what our results imply for the origins of life on Mars and beyond — from a planetary and exploration-driven perspective.

About the Speaker
Vlada Stamenkovic is a postdoctoral Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life fellow at Caltech and JPL. He is a global geophysicist and theoretical physicist who explores the fundamental principles of geophysics and the co-evolution of planets and life on Earth and beyond - from their origins to modern time.

EAPS IAP 2018: Origin of Life Seminar Series
Our Origin of Life Seminars are a series of hosted lectures from leaders in the Origin of Life community, focusing on various dimensions of one of the most challenging problems in the biological and planetary sciences. Topics include the origin of cells, metabolism, replication and proteins, as well as the geochemical conditions on the Early Earth that led to prebiotic and early biotic systems. Enrolled students will attend 4 seminars during IAP, actively engage in Q & A sessions with invited speakers in a panel format, and collaborate on creating an Origins of Life online blog resource highlighting the work of invited speakers. 

Instructor: Greg Fournier 

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Can a New Industrial Revolution Save the Amazon Forest?
Friday, February 2
4:30pm
MIT School of Science, Building 2-105, 182 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

MIT-Brazil Program Seminar Series

Summary
"The Amazonian tropical forests have been disappearing at a fast rate in the last 50 years due to deforestation to open areas for agriculture, posing high risks of irreversible changes to biodiversity and ecosystems. Large reductions of deforestation in the last decade open up opportunities for an alternative model based on seeing the Amazon as a global public good of biological assets for the creation of high-value products and ecosystem services."

Speaker 
Carlos Nobre, PhD'83, is one of the world’s leading Earth System scientists, and has played a pre-eminent role over several decades in research on the Amazon rainforest. He is a former member of the UN Scientific Advisory Board for Global Sustainability and Volvo Environment Prize laureate of 2016. He chaired the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), an international research initiative designed to create the new knowledge needed to understand the climatological, ecological, bio-geochemical, and hydrological functioning of Amazonia, the impact of land use change on these functions, and the interactions between Amazonia and the Earth system. He has been also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and a well-known public figure who has been advocating new ways of reducing deforestation by focusing on the value of forest products, led by developing nations like Brazil and India. He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, World Academy of Sciences and Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has been chair of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).

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Fixing Politics in an Era of Partisanship and Distrust: IOP Fellows Unplugged
WHEN  Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics,
Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S)  Adam Conner, Ed Gillespie, Betsy Hodges, Scott Jennings, Symone D. Sanders, Dan Balz
CONTACT INFO IOP Forum Office
617-495-1380
DETAILS  A conversation with IOP Spring 2018 Resident Fellows
Adam Conner, Former Government and Public Sector Lead, Slack Technologies
Ed Gillespie, Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate (2017), Chairman, Republican National Committee (2003-2005)
Betsy Hodges, Mayor of Minneapolis (2014 – 2018)
Scott Jennings, Founding Partner, RunSwitch Public Relations, Political Commentator, CNN
Symone D. Sanders, Strategist, Priorities USA, National Press Secretary, Bernie Sanders 2016
Dan Balz (Moderator), Chief Correspondent, The Washington Post, Fall 2017 Resident Fellow, Institute of Politics

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A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter 
Friday February 2
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline

Nikki Giovanni 
One of America’s most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful collection, a rumination on her life and the people who have shaped her.

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Saturday, February 3
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Mass Green Network Third Annual Summit
Saturday, February 3
9:30am to 4:00pm
Emerson College, Boston

Since we started in October 2015, the members of the Mass Green Network have passed over 60 local laws to reduce plastic waste.  When we started in October 2015, there were 23 bylaws and ordinances on plastic bags and polystyrene in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Now there are 87.

At our 2018 summit we will reflect on the lessons of the past year, share our stories, and learn about new resources and best practices -- both for passing new regulations, and for implementing those that have been adopted.
The 2018 summit will feature expert briefings on passing local laws to reduce plastic bags, polystyrene, bottled water, and pesticides. There will also be a panel on the Fair Share Amendment, which equalizes the tax code to secure more funds for education and transportation. And there will be workshops on effective advocacy through campaign planning, lobbying, and messaging.

If you want to pass a new law to help your community live more sustainably, or if you're saddled with the task of implementing a new local regulation about plastic bags or polystyrene, then please come.

Admission is free!  (Your donations will be appreciated.)

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Sunday, February 4
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PULSATIONS [BITUMEN]
Sunday, February 4
6:30 pm to 10:00 pm 
Studio @ 550, 550 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost:  $8 for Non-event members, otherwise $10.

PULSATIONS [BITUMEN] is a concert performance at the intersection of generative digital music and a viola quartet, with an original graphic notation featuring a BRAID.live algorithm and visuals, performed by:
Marcel Zaes (CH) – composition, electronics, visuals
Jordan Dykstra (USA) – viola
Ashley Frith (USA) – viola
Zsolt SőrĆ©s (HU) – viola
David Schnee (CH) – viola
With PULSATIONS [BITUMEN], the Swiss composer-performer Marcel Zaes (*1984 in Bern) sets out to redefine the conventional concert performance. He presents a transcontinental music project which is an intriguing fusion of electronic and classical sound. BITUMEN [PULSATIONS] presents the least featured of all string instruments, the viola, with four exceptional players, and extends the violas’ sound with generative digital technologies towards a contemporary live-sampling esthetics.

PULSATIONS [BITUMEN] is the result of Zaes’ typical compositional practice which interweaves the violas with pure sine wave tones and mathematical grids and generates abstract pulsations. The result are groovy, yet minimalist soundscapes. For this work, while Zaes introduces a novel graphic notation system that is imperfect and solely capable of displaying a specific kind of rhythmic patterns, presents an account of a recent generation of music makers. It is a generation which is largely driven by digital technologies and has developed a notion of music making that relies on music software skills rather than on mastery of a musical instrument or traditional music theory.

According to Zaes, this generation is particularly influenced by the visual appearance of music software and apps; it is a generation more familiar with cubes, clips and blocks arranged on a visual grid rather than with note heads on staves. Correlating with this grid-based music practice is a shift of priorities; parameters, such as the pitch of a single note, are becoming more and more arbitrary for they are either controlled by some kind of sequencer, pattern, loop, or live as entirely randomized elements; authority is thus withdrawn to some extent.

The novel notation system developed for PULSATIONS [BITUMEN] accounts precisely for such a ‘digital thinking.’ The title part ‘BITUMEN’ stands for asphalt and emphasizes the interaction between the digital algorithm and the violists: machine-like regularity meets with natural irregularities to form a techno-organic surface.

Learn more about Marcel and his work:

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Monday, February 5
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Glacial Tropical Climate Revisited
Monday, February 5
12:00PM
Harvard, Haller Hall (102), Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences welcomes, Jessica Tierney, Professor, Arizona University

EPS Colloquium

Contact Name:  Milena Perez

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Making, breaking and linking memories
Monday, February 5
12:00PM – 1:00 PM
BU,  Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering, Room 101, Auditorium, 610 Commonwealth, Boston

Professor Sheena Josselyn, University of Toronto


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Norton Lecture II, 'The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part II' by Frederick Wiseman
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Film, Humanities, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
SPEAKER(S)  Frederick Wiseman
COST  Free
TICKET INFO  Tickets will be available starting at noon on the day of each lecture. Tickets will be available in person at Sanders Theatre or online (handling fees apply). Limit of two tickets per person. Tickets valid until 3:45pm.
CONTACT INFO humcentr@fas.harvard.edu, 617-495-0738
DETAILS  Wide Angle: The Norton Lectures on Cinema
The Norton Professors in 2018 are AgnĆØs Varda, Wim Wenders, and Frederick Wiseman
Monday, Jan. 29 and Monday, Feb. 5: Frederick Wiseman
The Search for Story, Structure, and Meaning in Documentary Film: Part I and Part II
Monday, Feb. 26 and Tuesday, Feb. 27: AgnĆØs Varda
The 7th Art and Me and Crossing the Borders
Monday, April 2 and Monday, April 9: Wim Wenders
Poetry in Motion and The Visible and the Invisible

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Askwith Forums – Realizing Human Potential through Education
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT  Alumni, Askwith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM  Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Roger Falcon
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED  No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
FEATURED EVENT  Askwith Forums
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
DETAILS   Inaugural 2017 Yidan Prize Laureates: 
Vicky Colbert, Yidan Prize for Education Development; founder and director, FundaciĆ³n Escuela Nueva, Colombia
Carol Dweck, Yidan Prize for Education Research; Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, Stanford University 
Moderator: Nonie Lesaux, Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society and Academic Dean, HGSE
Founded in 2016, the Yidan Prize Foundation has a mission to create a better world through education. The Yidan Prize consists of two awards, the Yidan Prize for Education Research and the Yidan Prize for Education Development, that include a cash prize and a project fund. Join Professor Lesaux in a conversation with the inaugural Prize laureates about their work.

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Labor Policy as the Defining Issue of Our Time: Dunlop Lecture with the Honorable Tom Perez
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Austin Hall, Room 100, 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School
SPEAKER(S) Tom Perez, HLS and HKS '87, Chair of the Democratic National Committee and former United States Secretary of Labor
COST  Free
CONTACT INFO Info@ash.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Join the Honorable Tom Perez, HLS and HKS '87, Chair of the Democratic National Committee and former United States Secretary of Labor, for the John T. Dunlop Memorial Forum where he will lead a conversation on why he believes that labor policy is the defining issue of our time. Secretary Perez will discuss his lifelong fight to protect and expand opportunities for American workers and the challenge the current Administration poses for the future of labor and the American workforce.
Sharon Block, Executive Director of the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, will moderate the discussion. Archon Fung, HKS Academic Dean and Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government and Brandeis Heller School for Social Policy and Management Dean David Weil will give introductory remarks.
The John T. Dunlop Memorial Forum honors a distinguished member of the Harvard community, recognizing the contributions of Professor John T. Dunlop. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Economics Department and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Professor Dunlop was United States Secretary of Labor during the Ford administration. He founded the Harvard Trade Union Program, now a part of Harvard Law School’s Labor & Worklife Program.

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When:  The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Monday, February 5
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Cost:  $5 -$28.75 (online only, book included)

Harvard Book Store welcomes DANIEL H. PINK—author of #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human—for a discussion of his latest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

About When
Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don't know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of "when" decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork.

Timing, it's often assumed, is an art. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shows that timing is really a science.

Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology, and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work, and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for you as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers, or get married?

In When, Pink distills cutting-edge research and data on timing and synthesizes them into a fascinating, readable narrative packed with irresistible stories and practical takeaways that give readers compelling insights into how we can live richer, more engaged lives.

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Film Screening and Panel: The New Barbarianism
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Malkin Penthouse, L-P-9 Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Film
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
SPEAKER(S)  Margaret Bourdeaux, MD Director of the Threatened Health System Project
Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, Director of the Harvard Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University
Susannah Sirkin. Director for International Policy, Physicians for Human Rights and Senior Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
COST  Free
DETAILS  Please join the Carr Center for a very special event: A screening of The New Barbarianism, followed by a panel and reception.
Healthcare and humanitarian workers are increasingly in the crosshairs as hospitals and aid centers have become part of the battlefield in today’s wars. So far, there has been little to stop the profound surge of violence seen across several open-ended conflicts which has claimed thousands of lives, destroyed health systems, triggered mass displacement and state collapse, and exposed the crisis facing the norms of international humanitarian law contained in the Geneva Conventions.
The New Barbarianism is a feature documentary that examines the crisis, its causes, the limited international response and possible ways forward through dozens of interviews and original footage obtained from inside Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.
Event Specifics:
6:30 Welcome and Intro
6:35 - 7:35 Film Screening, including intro to film by co-director Justin Kenny 
7:35 - 8:30 Panel and Q&A
8:30 - 9:00 Reception

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CHASING COLOR: Art and the Hidden Narratives of Industrial Waste
Monday, February 5
7:00pm (doors: 6:0pm)
CafĆ© ArtScience, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
Cost:  $15 in advance; $20 at the door; Students w/ID admitted free

Presented by the Long Now Boston

Art, design, and other creative practices are not only an aesthetic muse. They have the power to influence civic conversation and can be especially transformative when the meme at hand is abstract, if not invisible.

Founded in 1917, The Nyanza Colorant Company in Ashland, MA was one of the first textile dying plants in the U.S. For 60 years, until its closing in 1978, the factory provided a livlihood to the town’s workers. It also dumped over 45 thousand tons of chemical sludge into the air, ground, and water. The trespass on the environment was so extreme that in 1982 the 35-acre Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump became one of the nation’s first Superfund cleanup sites.

After 40 years of dormancy there is still no formal timeline to finish remediation and restore the site to a ’clean' condition. Area residents can trace many health problems, including cancer, back to Nyanza, and the long-term effects of the toxic runoff are still unknown.

Industrial waste is not endemic to Ashland, nor is it a thing of the past. Irresponsible and harmful manufacturing practices continue to this day on a global scale, and textile manufacturing in particular is the second largest polluter worldwide.

Dan Borelli’s artwork literally sheds light on the transformative power of art to engage a community, especially when a problem seems out of sight, out of mind. Borelli digs into the “folklore of color” in his hometown of Ashland to ask what is going on with the remediation today, how is public knowledge disseminated, and how does a community regenerate while acknowledging it’s past? To learn more visit the Ashland-Nyanza Project.

Nick Anguelov takes a macro look at Superfund intitiatives like Nyanza to understand these sites from a regulatory standpoint. He examines the effect America’s contempt for industrial regulation can have on the local living economies where our clothes are made today.

Dr. Emilia Javorsky brings an entreprenuer’s and physician’s view of the conversation througn the lens of existential risk. She will also open the conversation to audience engagement through Q&A.

Our Guest Presenters:
DAN BORELLI As part of his Master studies at the GSD, Dan started an art-based research inquiry into the Nyanza Superfund Site in Ashland Massachusetts, which is his hometown. Nyanza is one of the first 10 sites that launched the EPA’s Superfund program and Dan’s project makes public hidden narratives of cancer clusters, human loss, activism, and ultimately regeneration with the support of Harvard Innovation Learning Technology, ArtPlace America and NEA Our Town grants.

NICK ANGUELOV Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Dr. Nikolay Anguelov is Assistant Professor in the department of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He has a Ph.D. in Policy Studies with a focus on Rural and Regional Economic Development from Clemson University. His research is interdisciplinary with a focus on international trade and diplomacy. His last two books are Economic Sanctions vs. Soft Power: Lessons from North Korea, Myanmar and the Middle East (Springer) and The Dirty Side of the Garment Industry: Fast Fashion and Its Negative Impact on Environment and Society (CRC Press).

EMILIA JAVORDKY, MD, MPH
Emilia Javorsky MD, MPH is focused on the invention, development and commercialization of new medical therapies using a problem-focused approach. Emilia received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, her masters from Boston University, her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts, and completed her post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Currently she is involved in early-stage life science ventures. She also leads an Artificial Intelligence in Medicine initiative, and is launching programming on Imaginaries & the Future with the Future Society at Harvard Kennedy School. She was a Fulbright-Schuman Scholar to the European Union, is a TEDx speaker, a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shaper community, and was honored as part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017 in Healthcare.

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Tuesday, February 6
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FAS Diversity Dialogue - Truths About Race
Tuesday, February 6
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Harvard Hillel, 52 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge

With degrees in psychology and religious education, Anthony Peterson has developed diversity education for nearly two decades. Anthony’s diversity discussions took a different turn in 2014, when his five-year-old white grandson asked, “Am I white or am I black?” In conversation with Callie Crossley, host of WGBH’s Under the Radar, Anthony will draw from his life story, current research, and discussions with his grandchildren to explore social narratives about race in the 21st century. 

Speaker:  Anthony Peterson, Adjunct Instructor and Ed.D. candidate, Leadership and Professional Studies, Trevecca Nazarene University
in conversation with
Callie Crossley, Broadcast journalist and host of WGBH’s Under the Radar 
Please RSVP by Friday, February 2, 2018.
Please note that space is limited and seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis for registered guests.

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Speaker Series: Margaret Sullivan
Tuesday, February 6
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Rubenstein 414, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Margaret Sullivan is the media columnist for The Washington Post, writing on journalism ethics, free speech, and the intersection of politics and the news media. Before joining The Post in 2016, she was The New York Times public editor, and previously, the chief editor of The Buffalo News, her hometown paper where she started as a summer intern. She was the first woman to serve as managing editor and editor in chief of The News, as well as the first female public editor of the New York Times. A graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University’s Medill School, she is a former member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and was twice elected as a director of the American Society of News Editors, where she led the First Amendment committee. Sullivan taught in the graduate schools of journalism at Columbia University and City University of New York. In 2017, she won the Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award from the New England First Amendment Coalition, recognizing her columns at The Times and The Post that championed free speech and press rights.

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Governing and Mental Health Policy: Addiction, Poverty, Guns and Prisons
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Leadership Studio - 10th Floor, Kresge Building, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Voices in Leadership webcast program, HSPH
SPEAKER(S)  Ted Strickland, former Governor of Ohio
COST  free
CONTACT INFO Alison Barron - abarron@hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS  Join us for the next “Voices in Leadership” event of the Spring semester, featuring Ted Strickland, former Governor of Ohio. He became Ohio’s governor as the nation teetered on the brink of economic collapse and tackled the crisis with a plan to ensure that Ohio emerged from the recession stronger than ever by laying a foundation for economic progress and a thriving middle class. He made strategic investments in job creation, improved Ohio’s business climate, reformed education, proposed and signed into law an energy bill with strong renewable and efficiency standards and worked with the legislature to prepare Ohio for the post-recession economy.
Gov. Strickland will be interviewed by Dr. John McDonough. Please join us online or in-person for this dynamic event! For lottery and live webcast details, please visit www.hsph.me/Strickland.

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Three transportation revolutions: Steering sharing, automation, and electrification toward the public interest
Tuesday, February 6
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building E51-315, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Dan Sperling’s research examines the potential benefits, impacts, and synergies of the three transportation “revolutions:” electrification, automation, and pooling. In this seminar, Sperling will describe what needs to happen for this new transportation paradigm to truly benefit the public interest. Sperling will provide insight into the forces—from effective government policies to partnerships between transit operators, mobility service companies, automakers, and others—that will be instrumental in enhancing social equity, environmental sustainability, and urban livability.

These ideas are discussed in depth in the book Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future, co-authored by Sperling along with other leaders in the field. The first fifty pre-registered individuals to arrive at this seminar will receive free copies of the book.  

Examining the potential benefits, impacts, and synergies of the three “transportation” revolutions 
Reviewing innovative ideas and partnerships within the transportation sector 
Exploring the necessity of effective government policy in shifting the new transportation paradigm toward the public interest

Speaker Bio:
Daniel Sperling is a distinguished professor of civil engineering and environmental science and policy, and founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis). He was appointed to the transportation seat on the California Air Resources Board by Governors Schwarzenegger and Brown and served as chair of the Transportation Research Board in 2015-16. He won the 2013 Blue Planet Prize from the Asahi Glass Foundation for being “a pioneer in opening up new fields of study to create more efficient, low-carbon, and environmentally beneficial transportation systems.”

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Things Fall Apart: Land Use History, Non-native Insects, Climatic Change, and the Decline of a Forest Foundation Species
Tuesday, February 6
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HUH Seminar Room 125, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge 

Aaron Ellison, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology, Harvard Forest
Abstract: Foundation species create and define particular ecosystems; control in large measure the distribution and abundance of associated flora and fauna; and modulate core ecosystem processes. In forests, foundation species are large, long-lived, late-successional trees whose ecological characteristics and functions rarely co-occur in other species. In New England, eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is the foundation species, but it is declining and dying throughout its range because of additive and interactive effects of climatic change, the nonnative hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), and anthropogenic activities. In this talk, I describe aspects of eastern hemlock's unique ecological characteristics that contribute to its foundational role and discuss data from historical reconstructions, ongoing observations, and manipulative experiments at Harvard Forest and throughout southern New England aimed at understanding the structure and dynamics of the forests of our future.

Herbaria Seminar


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The Changing Security Landscape on the Korean Peninsula: Implications for Tokyo, Beijing, and Washington
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S)  John Park, Director of the Korea Working Group and Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderator: Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST  Free and open to the public

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Deciphering the human microbiota using chemistry
Tuesday, February 6
4pm
MIt, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Emily Balskus, Harvard University


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The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, 4:15 – 6:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, 27 Kirkland Street, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, Lower Level Conference Room, Cambridge 
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
SPEAKER(S)  Yascha Mounk, Lecturer in the Government Department, Harvard University; Local Affiliate, CES, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO  Jessica Barnard
DETAILS  Two core components of liberal democracy—individual rights and the popular will—are increasingly at war with each other. As the role of money in politics soared and important issues were taken out of public contestation, a system of “rights without democracy” took hold. Populists who rail against this say they want to return power to the people. But in practice they create something just as bad: a system of “democracy without rights.”
The consequence, Mounk shows in The People vs. Democracy, is that trust in politics is dwindling. Drawing on vivid stories and original research, Mounk identifies three key drivers of voters’ discontent: stagnating living standards, fears of multi-ethnic democracy, and the rise of social media. To reverse the trend, politicians need to enact radical reforms that benefit the many, not the few.
The People vs. Democracy goes beyond a mere description of the rise of populism. In plain language, it describes both how we got here and where we need to go.

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Askwith Forums – Immigration, Activism, and DACA: An Evening with Jose Antonio Vargas and Joy Reid
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT  Alumni, Askwith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM  Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Roger Falcon
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED  No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
FEATURED EVENT  Askwith Forums
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
DETAILS  Speaker:Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; founder and CEO, Define American
Moderator: Joy Reid, political analyst and host of “AM Joy,” MSNBC
Introduction: Roberto G. Gonzales, professor of education, HGSE
On September 5, 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Obama policy that shielded nearly 800,000 young people from deportation. In light of DACA’s termination and new concerns over immigration policy, Professor Gonzales will kick off a multi-week series on DACA, immigration reform, and community responses to restrictionist policies. Reid will interview Vargas about the politics and policies of immigration, the termination of DACA, and the meaning of American in this current political moment.

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Emerging Professionals for the Environment: Building a Sustainable Business
Tuesday, February 6
5:30PM-7:30PM
50 Milk Street Boston

Come hear from Nathan Rothstein, Co-founder and President of Project Repat, about his experience as a young entrepreneur making a sustainable idea into one of the fastest growing consumer goods businesses in the country. Stick around afterwards to grab some free food and drinks while you mingle with other young professionals interested in business and sustainability.

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Ubiquitous Autonomous Vehicles: Upending Industries – Unlocking Entrepreneurial Opportunities
Tuesday, February 6 
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
MIT, Building 32-123, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Cost: $30; Members: $20; Students: $10; Student members: $5

By 2040, we estimate that 95% of new vehicles sold, or 96.3 million cars, will be fully autonomous
—a $3.6 trillion opportunity. Fortune 2017

You cannot go one day without hearing about how the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicles will impact our lives and the numerous benefits to society.

But what about the new industries that it will create and the entrepreneurial impact of AV deployment?  How about the implications for the industry, the built environment, data security, safety and energy?  Our panel will delve into these and other entrepreneurial opportunities unlocked with the adoption of autonomous transportation.

To start, how about advanced mapping, data and analytics, networking/privacy, intelligent infrastructure, location-based services, mobility transactions, new mobility and ownership models and logistics. Perhaps the reallocation of parking and redistribution of traffic flow? Saving significant levels of energy? Providing transportation for seniors and the disabled to get to work? How about the communication necessary for connected vehicles and eliminating the need for military drivers to be in dangerous areas?

The impact is extremely broad – and the entrepreneurial opportunities seemingly endless.

Please join our expert panel to learn:

How true are the adoption predictions?
What are the impacts of a 90% reduction in traffic accidents?
What are the implications of smart technology for vehicles and road systems?
How will autonomous vehicles be impacted by AI, data and data analytics?
Who will provide the financial backing?

Moderator
Dylan Martin, Staff Writer: BostInno

Speakers
Dr. Christopher Borroni-Bird, Founder of Afreecar LLC; Research Scientist, MIT Media Lab
Chris Cheever, Founder and Partner, Fontinalis Partners (Boston office)
Chris Thomas,  Founder and Partner of Fontinalis Partners (Detroit office); board member of nuTonomy till acquisition by Delphi in October 2017
Augustin Wegscheider, Principal, Boston Consulting Group; Project Manager of Future of Urban & Autonomous Mobility, World Economic Forum

Agenda
5:30-6:00: Registration
6:00-7:30: Panel and Q&A
7:30-8:30: Networking with refreshments

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Hurricane Season 2017: Assessing Public and Private Sector Responses
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S)   JosĆ© AndrĆ©s, Jason Jackson, Jeh Johnson, Brad Kieserman, Juliette Kayyem
DETAILS  A discussion with
JosĆ© AndrĆ©s, Internationally-recognized Culinary Innovator, Author, Educator, Humanitarian and Chef & Owner, ThinkFoodGroup
Jason Jackson, Senior Director of Emergency Management, Walmart
Jeh Johnson, Senior Fellow, The Homeland Security Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, HKS, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (2013-2017)
Brad Kieserman, Vice President of Disaster Operations and Logistics, Red Cross
Juliette Kayyem (Moderator), Robert and Renee Belfer Lecturer in International Security, HKS, National Security Analyst, CNN, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs (2009-2010)

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Opening Conversation "Where is Cambridge From?" & Annual Meeting
Tuesday, February 6
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

Join us at this Opening Conversation, launching our 2018 theme, "Where is Cambridge From?" 
Opening Conversation speakers Alexandra Sedlovskaya and Dr. Kerri Greenidge, guided by Diana Lempel; will be setting the table for this year's programs which will explore the ways Cantabrigians define where they're "from" and why it matters. What makes someone feel they're from Cambridge or not, and how has this changed over time?

Event is open to the public and free. Please register!
Light Refreshments

The Opening Conversation will be followed by the Annual Meeting of the Members. All are welcome.
Inclement Weather Date: 2/8/18
Speakers:
Alexandra Sedlovskaya, Assistant Director, C. Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard Business School
Dr. Kerri Greenidge, Department of History, Tufts University; Co-Director Tufts / African American Freedom Trail Project, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy
Moderator:  Diana Lempel, Doing History Curator at Cambridge Historical Society and Co-Founder, Practice Space

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[MIT CEO] Cryptocurrency and Blockchain - Insights and Opportunities
Tuesday, February 6
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Bitcoin has been luring some investors with potentially huge reward - and scaring others away with equally big risks. Should we put it on our investment shopping list?

Entrepreneurs are currently rushing into this surging field with blockchain products and have triggered a flood of ICO funding. As an emerging market with low barriers of entry, what should entrepreneurs consider and understand in order to make the best ones successful?

What are the real values behind the hype around cryptocurrencies? How will they be evaluated when they are used in the real world? Is it a bubble or digital gold that actually offers something?

Given its volatility and uncertainty about the technology’s long-term viability, will countries add regulations onto what’s currently a stateless, bankless Wild West of payment tools?
We invites Mr. Waikit Lau to MIT to share with us his experiences and opinions in cryptocurrency and blockchain investment, as well as his thoughts and expectations about the future of cryptocurrency.
This event will be in English.

Mr. Waikit Lau founded and grew 2 startups to successful exits(one acquired and one IPO). With 17+ years of experience in Technology and Finance, across product, marketing, and sales functions, he has been on both VC and operations sides. He is an active investor in ICO and 20+ startups, and will be teaching an upcoming MIT class on cryptocurrency.

Mr. Lau's past investments include BladeLogic (NASD: BLOG, acquired by BMC for $800M), Endeca (acquired by Oracle for more than $1B), WaveSmith (acquired by Ciena for $178M), Netli (acquired by Akamai for $170M), Berkeley Design Automation (acquired by Mentor Graphics). He is also runing AIDL (Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning), one of the largest and most active Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning communities with 85,000+ members. Prior to co-founding ScanScout, he was the Director of Strategy and Business Development at Scientific Atlanta (a division of Cisco) where he helped lead product strategy for next-generation media delivery platforms. Before Scientific Atlanta, he was an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, investing in and working with early-stage technology companies. Prior to serving as a VC, he co-founded Photo.net, one of the largest online photo-databases and served as its Vice President of Product and Business Development. He has also consulted to the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Technology at Merrill Lynch in the technology strategy and operation areas. He's an advisor to Motally (acquired by Nokia) and serves on the Advisory Board of Harvard University's Digital Community and Social Networking Group.

Mr. Lau holds BS in Electrical Engineering, Finance & Computer Science from MIT and MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Invite to Ignite 2018
Tuesday, February 6
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Cambridge Innovation Center - Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
Cost:  $8 – $12

Last February, Boston Area Sustainability Group (BASG) hosted a special evening to affirm the positive actions of local groups with the goal of providing a breadth of opportunity for our members to sample volunteer opportunities in the area. Twenty organizations accepted and the result was an exciting evening of rapid exposure to great ideas and ways for everyone in the room to get involved with their favorite impact model. So we’re doing it again!
Nominations Are Open
As we prepare the lineup for the 2nd Annual Invite to Ignite event, we’re looking for your recommendations of organizations, campaigns, or initiatives from communities, non-profits, academia, government and industry, that would benefit from an introduction to BASG and our audience. The emphasis of the evening is to help amplify action and engagement.
Email sustyboston [at] gmail.com with your ideas about organizations to include in this exciting event and remember you can nominate your own organization too. Suggest as many as you like, and if possible, provide a contact for us. We'll announce everyone here before the event.
Please help spread the word, far and wide and plan to come for the fun!

Thanks so much! Carol, Holly & Tilly 

Need Inspiration? 
See this list of the 2017 Ignite Speakers:
Mothers Out Front, The Sierra Club, Boston Area Gleaners, ClimateX, Change is Simple, 350MA, Boston Harbor Now, CABA (Climate Action Business Association), US Green Building Council, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, InnerCity Weightlifting, Clime-IT, Sustainability Collaborative, Net Impact Boston, Resonant Energy, Social Innovation Forum (SIF), Mass Audubon, Livable Streets, The Story of Energy (and other Events), and SaveOhno

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Film screening and discussion: Albatross 
Tuesday, February 6
6–8:30 pm
Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge

Join the Planetary Health Alliance, Harvard University Center for the Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions for a special film screening of "Albatross" – a stunning visual journey exploring the consequences of global plastics pollution in the ocean through the eyes of the Albatross population on Midway Island. Following the screening we will hold a discussion with filmmaker Chris Jordan, Robin Kelsey, Matthew Potts, and Jim McCarthy. Terry Tempest Williams and Sam Myers will moderate the discussion.

The discussion will explore territory we sometimes avoid: in witnessing environmental degradation and its consequences, what is the role of grief? What does it mean to “bear witness”? As scientists and scholars, is our emotional reaction to the degradation of Nature relevant to our work? How do we acknowledge emotional ties to Nature, even reverence for Nature, while retaining scientific objectivity in our work? Is it even possible to activate the change we need without acknowledging the moral and emotional dimensions of what we are witnessing?

Registration is required. Space is limited. Free and open to the public.

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Designing Reality: Authors' Talk
Tuesday, February 6
6:30-8 p.m.
MIT Museum, Building N51, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Join MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld and co-authors Alan, and Joel Gershenfeld as they discuss their latest book Designing Reality, an exploration of the dawning of the third digital revolution where anyone can fabricate (almost) anything.

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Hemlock Hospice: Landscape Ecology, Art & Design
Tuesday, February 6
6:30 PM – 8:15 PM EST
Harvard, Graduate School Of Design, 48 Quincy Street Room 124, Cambridge

This talk focuses on the intersection of ecology, art, and design as viewed through the lens of the Hemlock Hospice project. Hemlock Hospice is an, art-based interpretive trail conceived and developed by David Buckley Borden, Aaron M. Ellison, and their team of interdisciplinary collaborators. On view through mid-November 2018, this immersive site-specific science-communication project tells the story of the ongoing demise of the eastern hemlock tree at the hands (and mouth) of a tiny aphid-like insect, the hemlock wooly adelgid. While telling the story of the loss of eastern hemlock, the project addresses larger issues of climate change, human impact, and the future of New England forests.

The talk includes an overview of the Hemlock Hospice project from the complementary perspectives of science, art, and design, and also addresses the practical challenges of creating and realizing such interdisciplinary projects. Borden and Ellison will share their research-driven creative process, including challenges and lessons and highlight the team’s collaborative approach to science communication at the intersection of landscape, creativity, and cultural event.

Aaron M. Ellison is the Senior Research Fellow in Ecology in Harvard’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Senior Ecologist at the Harvard Forest, and a semi-professional photographer and writer. He studies the disintegration and reassembly of ecosystems following natural and anthropogenic disturbances; thinks about the relationship between the Dao and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis; reflects on the critical and reactionary stance of Ecology relative to Modernism, blogs as The Unbalanced Ecologist, and tweets as @AMaxEll17. He is the author of A Primer of Ecological Statistics (2004), A Field Guide to the Ants of New England(2012; recipient of the 2013 USA Book News International Book Award in General Science, and the 2013 award for Specialty Title in Science and Nature from The New England Society in New York City), and Vanishing Point (2017), a collection of photographs and poetry from the Pacific Northwest). On weekends, he works wood.

David Buckley Borden is a Cambridge-based interdisciplinary artist and designer known for his creative practice of making ecological issues culturally relevant to the general public by means of accessible art and design. David studied landscape architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and worked with Sasaki Associates and Ground before focusing his practice at the intersection of landscape, creativity, and cultural event. David’s work now manifests in a variety of forms, ranging from site-speciļ¬c landscape installations in the woods to data-driven cartography in the gallery. David's place-based projects highlight both pressing environmental issues and everyday phenomena and have recently earned him residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Teton Art Lab, Trifecta Hibernaculum, and MASS MoCA. David was a 2016/2017 Charles Bullard Fellow in Forest Research at the Harvard Forest where he answered the question, “How can art and design foster cultural cohesion around environmental issues and help inform ecology-minded decision making.”

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This Narrow Space:  A Pedriatic Oncologist, His Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Patients, and a Hospital in Jerusalem
Tuesday February 6
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline

Elisha Waldman 
A memoir both bittersweet and inspiring by an American pediatric oncologist who spent seven years in Jerusalem treating children—Israeli Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza—who had all been diagnosed with cancer.

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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, February 7
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The Implications of Machine Learning on Cybersecurity
Wednesday, February 7
9:00am - 11:00am
Harvard, Taubman Building, Nye A, B, & C, 5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Join the Cybersecurity Project for a special event on the impacts of machine learning on cybersecurity. Sameer Bhalotra (StackRox) will moderate a discussion between Dan Chenok (IBM), Tom Corn (VMWare), and  Jennifer Lin (Google). 

Seating will be available on a first come, first serve basis.


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The State of Equity in Metro Boston Policy Agenda 2018
Wednesday, February 7
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Massachusetts State House, Room 222, 24 Beacon Street, Boston

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Why has the lower stratosphere stopped cooling for the last 20 years? 
Wednesday, February 7
12:00pm 
Harvard, HUCE MCZ 440, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Harvard Climate Seminar: Lorenzo M Polvani, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
The cooling of the stratosphere is an important fingerprint of CO2 on the climate system.  This stratospheric signature of CO2, however, is confounded by the presence of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The talk will summarize the latest observations and, with simple arguments and with the help of ensembles of chemistry-climate model integrations, demonstrate the crucial role of ODS not only on stratospheric temperature trends, but also on the entire large-scale circulation of the stratosphere.

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Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics
Wednesday, February 7
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT,  Building E40, 496 (Pye Room), 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Summary
Despite being repeatedly surprised by unexpected change, public debate and mainstream international relations scholarship continue to assume that the world is governed by calculable risk based on estimates of power. Protean power highlights and challenges this assumption by arguing for the acknowledgement of uncertainty as an important condition of political and social life.

Short Bio
Peter Katzenstein is the Walter S. Carpenter Professor of International Studies at Cornell University and a former president of the American Political Science Association.

SSP Wednesday Seminar
All Welcome

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SLS Seminar: Brian Green (MIT)
Wednesday, February 7
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT,  Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

About the Speaker
Brian Green's interests lie in ocean dynamics, their role in climate, and the use of numerical techniques to model them. He was lead author on a recent study which showed interaction between ocean circulation and the trade winds damps movement of the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) to transport heat across the equator. Green's PhD advisor is John Marshall.

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Efficient Mitigation of Climate Change
Wednesday, February 7
4:15pm
Harvard, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Kenneth Gillingham, Yale University, and James Stock, Harvard University. A

Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy

Contact Name:  Casey Billings

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Claiming God's Peace When Whiteness Stands Its Ground
WHEN  Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Religion
SPONSOR Center for the Study of World Religions
CONTACT CSWR, 617.495.4476
DETAILS  Please join us for the Annual Greeley Lecture for Peace and Social Justice, delivered by Kelly Brown Douglas. This lecture will examine the social/political and theological implications of whiteness as an impediment to living into God’s justice. Special attention will be given to the implications for the church as well as theological education.
Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1983, Douglas holds a master’s degree in theology and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Union. She is the author of many articles and five books, including Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God which was written in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin. Professor Douglas’s academic work focuses on womanist theology, sexuality, and the black church. She was formerly the Susan D. Morgan Professorship of Religion at Goucher College.

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Undoing Empire: Form, Function, Feminism
Wednesday, February 7
5:30pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Building E51-095, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

GCWS Feminisms Unbound roundtable
J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Professor of American Studies and Anthropology, Wesleyan University
Kalpana Seshadri, Professor of English, Boston College
Kaysha Corinealdi, Assistant Professor of History, Emerson College
Moderator, Jyoti Puri, Simmons College

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Wearable Technologies:  Advances for Medical Care 
Wednesday, February 7
5:30 - 8:30 PM
Regis College Fine Arts Center, Weston
Cost:  $10 - $45 (early discount)

Wearables are playing a key role in the advancement of digital health.

The recent advancements in wearable medical technologies has created opportunities for dramatic improvements in personalized healthcare. 

Moderator:  Geoff Gill, President, Shimmer Americas
Geoff leads the U.S. commercial operations and the global product and business strategy for the consumer neuroscience and medical markets.

Justin Chickles, CEO and Co-Founder, Mobile Sense Technologies
Justin is building a company to develop and commercialize a cardiac monitoring device and mobile health platform. 

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SOUND ART CHINA
Wednesday, February 7
6:30pm (doors: 6:0pm)
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge

Sound art didn’t exist in China until three decades ago. Even Sound art China was born outside of academic, and contemporary art global market, it still draws international attention. As a curator and artist, Wenhua's talk will trace some historical and artistic impacts of the recent emerging sound art scene in China, discuss its key artists and their influences as well as also raise the question of the future of Sound art in China.

As usual the event is Free 

Wenhua Shi pursues a poetic approach to moving image making, and investigates conceptual depth in film, video, interactive installations and sound sculptures. His work has been presented at museums, galleries, and film festivals, including the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, the European Media Art Festival, the Athens Film and Video Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Pacific Film Archive, West Bund 2013: a Biennale of Architecture and Contemporary art, Shanghai, Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism, and the Arsenale of Venice in Italy. 
He has received awards including the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Juror’s Awards from the Black Maria Film and Video Festival. 

Recently he presented a solo show, A Year from Monday, at Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center in Buffalo, NY and a solo screening, Autumn Air, at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA.

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Jennifer Rudolph & Michael Szonyi (editors)- The China Questions
Wednesday, February 7
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge

Many books offer information about China, but few make sense of what is truly at stake. The questions addressed in this unique volume provide a window onto the challenges China faces today and the uncertainties its meteoric ascent on the global horizon has provoked.

In only a few decades, the most populous country on Earth has moved from relative isolation to center stage. Thirty-six of the world’s leading China experts—all affiliates of the renowned Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University—answer key questions about where this new superpower is headed and what makes its people and their leaders tick. They distill a lifetime of cutting-edge scholarship into short, accessible essays about Chinese identity, culture, environment, society, history, or policy.
China has already captured the world’s attention. The China Questions takes us behind media images and popular perceptions to provide insight on fundamental issues.

About the Authors:
Jennifer Rudolph is Associate Professor of modern Chinese political history at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Michael Szonyi is Professor of Chinese History at Harvard University.

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The Beautiful Adaptations of Native Plants: Inviting the Wild into our Gardens
Wednesday, February 7
7 - 8:30pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Dan Segal, Owner of the Plantsmen Nursery

Co-sponsored by the Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation

Native plants have evolved a broad array of adaptations in the wild, yielding not only the ornamental features embraced in horticulture but many fascinating mechanisms for survival. Dan will take us beyond 'pretty' plant features to explore the origins of these adaptive traits, and the critical importance of regional variation. This insight helps us to select plants that are genuinely suited to our landscapes.  He will also compare and contrast large-scale nursery production that favors the cloning of cultivars, with small-scale nursery propagation that favors seed-grown straight species.  To know and source native plants effectively, understanding their propagation can be just as important as species selection. 

Dan Segal is the owner of The Plantsmen Nursery near Ithaca, NY, which specializes in native plants, local seed collection, and natural landscaping. He has collected and propagated over 1,000 species of native plants in his three decades of work as a nurseryman, giving him great insight into the fascinating variety of adaptations that plants have evolved to survive. He founded the Ithaca Native Plant Symposium in 2009. 

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Facing the Flint crisis: documentary & discussion with Flint organizers
Wednesday, February 7
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EST
First Church In Jamaica Plain, 6 Eliot Street, Boston

You’re invited: Please join Corporate Accountability and Jamaica Plain Forum for a documentary screening and community discussion with two water justice organizers from Flint, Michigan.

Nayyirah Shariff and Gina Luster are Flint-based organizers with Flint Rising, a coalition born from the city’s water crisis that is leading the ongoing struggle for justice for Flint residents.

After Flint’s water supply was switched from the Detroit city system to the Flint River in 2014, lead levels spiked, potentially exposing 8,000 children and nearly 100,000 Flint residents to toxic lead levels -- in some cases several times more than the EPA action level. By the date of our event, Flint residents will have gone 1,384 days without clean water. The Flint water crisis is a stark reminder of the realities of environmental racism in the U.S. and the devastating impacts of lack of access to clean, safe drinking water, which affects one in four people worldwide.

The event will begin with a screening of a short documentary called Here's to Flint, which tells the story of how one of the biggest environmental scandals of our generation took place. Then, Nayyirah and Gina will tell their own stories and the stories of other organizers who worked and continue to work tirelessly against great odds to secure justice for their community. You’ll hear how they’re exposing the racist emergency management law in Michigan and challenging the reckless government officials and corporate interests whose policies and practices blatantly disregarded the lives and health of poor and Black residents in the city.
It has been over 1,300 days since residents of Flint have had access to clean water -- and there is still so much to be done to secure justice. Come join us and learn what actions we can take to ensure everyone has access to safe drinking water at rates affordable for all for generations to come.

Co-sponsors: Flint Rising, Corporate Accountability, Jamaica Plain Forum
For more on the Flint water crisis and Flint Rising, visit: www.flintrising.com. For more on Corporate Accountability’s water campaign visit www.corporateaccountability.org.

*The screening will be preceded by a supporters reception at a nearby home. For more information or to RSVP for the reception please contact Marilyn Willmoth at RSVP@corporateaccountability.org

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Resistance Mic!
WHEN  Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, 8 – 10 p.m.
WHERE Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Concerts, Humanities, Law, Music, Opera, Poetry/Prose, Special Events, Support/Social, Theater
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, American Repertory Theater
SPEAKER(S)  Beekan Erena
Richard Hoffman
Obehi Janice
Dom Jones
Sonya Larson
Sebastian Jones
Kuumba Singers of Harvard College
Hosted by Timothy Patrick McCarthy and Sarah Sweeney
COST  $5-10
DETAILS  The 2016 election inspired a broad-based Resistance not seen in the United States in decades. People from all walks of life have been protesting, marching, mobilizing, and organizing in an effort to take back our country and create a more compassionate and just world. Artists are vital to this work. This fall, the American Repertory Theater and Carr Center for Human Rights Policy – in collaboration with Pangyrus and other literary and arts initiatives – are launching a new series of intimate performances on the theme of “Resistance.” Each of these five evenings will feature a diverse group of artist-activists telling powerful stories and performing politically engaged works that read, move, sing, and speak truth to power in these troubled times.
Resistance Mic! is part of the A.R.T. of Human Rights series, an ongoing collaboration between the American Repertory Theater and Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Resistance Mic! will take place on Wednesdays @ 8pm @ OBERON, A.R.T.’s second stage theater, and will be co-hosted by Timothy Patrick McCarthy and Sarah Sweeney.

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Thursday, February 8
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MLK Celebration Luncheon
Thursday, February 8
11:00am to 1:00pm
MIT Building 50, Walker Memorial, Morss Hall, 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

All members of the MIT community are warmly invited to the 2018 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Luncheon, "Sustaining the struggle for equity: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Seating is limited; please register at http://iceo.mit.edu/rsvp.

We gather each February as a community to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The program honors Dr. King's dual emphasis on global and local issues, including remarks by MIT President Rafael Reif, a brief address by a graduate and an undergraduate student, and announcement of the 2018 MLK Leadership Award recipients. The 2018 keynote speaker will be Wade Davis, former NFL player, equality advocate, and educator.

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Pipeline Economics
Thursday, February 8
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford

Elizabeth Stanton, Environmental economist/Founder, Applied Economics Clinic
Proposals to construct new gas and oil pipelines around the United States have sparked controversy and protest, sometimes with deadly consequences for those seeking to protect environmental resources and cultural artifacts. Economic analysis has an important role to play in determining the pros and cons of pipeline projects, especially when it is used to shed light on which communities will benefit and which will be hurt. This talk will introduce the Applied Economics Clinic, focusing on its work related to pipelines.

Dr. Elizabeth A. Stanton is the founder and director of the Applied Economics Clinic. She has worked for more than 16 years as an environmental economist, and has authored more than 140 reports, policy studies, white papers, journal articles, and book chapters on topics related to energy, the economy, and the environment. Dr. Stanton leads studies examining environmental regulation, cost- benefit analyses, and the economics of energy efficiency and renewable energy. She has submitted expert testimony and comments in Illinois, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and several federal dockets. Her recent work includes extensive analysis of the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, developing testimony on Massachusetts’ Global Warming Solutions Act, and analysis of the need for new gas pipelines in New England and the U.S. Southeast.

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Data Science to Solve Social Problems — Long Beach Innovation Team
Thursday, February 8
12:00pm to 1:15pm
MIT, Building E51-095, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Learn about the City of Long Beach Innovation Team’s work using data science and technology to improve social services.

The City of Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team) was launched in May of 2015 and extends the city's capacity to rapidly advance research and development through a data-driven and transparent approach to innovation. In 2017, the i-team shifted its focus from economic development to public safety and works with partners both inside and outside of city government to develop new approaches to solving urban challenges.

The MIT GOV/LAB is a research group of political scientists focusing on innovation in citizen engagement and government responsiveness.

The Data Science to Solve Social Problems series features practitioners who are applying data science techniques to real world social problems. This series aims to promote dialogue and collaboration between social scientists and data analysts / engineers working on innovative projects.

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Dissecting and Reconstructing Plant Metabolism With Synthetic Biology
Thursday,February 8
4:00 PM EST
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker:  Patrick Shih, Indiana University


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Askwith Forums – Teach Us All: A Community Conversation with Members of the Little Rock Nine
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, 4:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Forum, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT  Alumni, Askwith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM  Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME  Roger Falcon
CONTACT PHONE  617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED  No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
FEATURED EVENT  Askwith Forums
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
DETAILS  4:30-5:50 p.m. Film screening** of “Teach Us All”
6-7 p.m. Panel
Members of the Little Rock Nine: 
Minnijean Brown Trickey, nonviolence and antiracism facilitator, Sojourn to the Past 
Terrence Roberts, principal, Terrence Roberts Consulting 
Additional speakers: 
Jonathan Crossley, principal, Baseline Academy, Little Rock, AK 
Sonia Lowman, director, Teach Us All; director of communications, Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes 
Treopia G. Washington, director of special initiatives, College of Education, Bowie State University 
Moderator: Domonic Rollins, senior diversity and inclusion officer and special assistant to the deans, HGSE
Join members of the Little Rock Nine, who sixty years ago faced violent resistance when desegregating Central High in Arkansas; the Little Rock Baseline Academy Elementary School Principal; and the director of the documentary “Teach Us All” for an unforgettable evening, which will include a screening of “Teach Us All”.

**NOTE: Film will not be part of the HGSE live stream. Please visit http://www.teachusallfilm.org/ for advance screening information.

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From Augmented to Virtual Learning: Affordances of Different Mixes of Reality for Learning
Thursday, February 8
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT,  Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

Mixed realities that combine digital and real experiences are now becoming a true reality.  These experiences are being delivered over smartphones as well as increasingly accessible and practical head mounted displays. This ubiquity of devices is in turn making mixed reality the next digital frontier in entertainment, education and the workplace. But what do we know about where these technologies have value? Where do they add to the learning experience? And what theories and evidence can we generate and build upon to provide a foundation for using these technologies productively for learning?

We have been working on mixed realities in education for over a decade and have started to learn about where, when and for whom they can add value. Part of this understanding stems from differentiating the wide variety of mixed realities and focusing on affordances. Landscape based augmented realities, popularized by Pokemon Go, have fundamentally different affordances than smartphone based virtual realities like Google Cardboard, which in turn are different than immersive experiences delivered by headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.  The core of our work has been doing research and development to identify these affordances that match with key learning challenges, particular in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In this talk, Eric Klopfer will draw upon our work in location-based augmented reality games, as well as work in virtual reality. In the realm of augmented reality, he will discuss a long series of design experiments through which we have learned about where these technologies play an important role in learning, primarily around socio-scientific issues. In the space of virtual reality our newest designs and experiments focus on the concept of scale, and how we can use virtual realities to teach about STEM systems at radically different scales. This talk will provide a history and overview of these experiences, including iterations of design research experiments.

Eric Klopfer is Professor and Director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade at MIT. Klopfer’s research focuses on the development and use of computer games and simulations for building understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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RPP Colloquium Series: Why Nonviolent Civil Resistance Works: Highlighting the Power of Spiritually-Engaged Communities in Movements for Sustainable Peace
WHEN  Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, 6 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Religion, Special Events
SPONSOR Religions and the Practice of Peace, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at HDS
CONTACT Laura Krueger
DETAILS  Space is limited. RSVP is required at https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_aUU3rN9JdvAV80J&Q_JFE=0
This colloquium explores some of the key challenges that nonviolent resistance movements face, including obstacles to building and maintaining movement cohesion, ensuring effective communication, and gaining political leverage; how advocates of principled nonviolence (who promote nonviolence on a moral basis) often clash with advocates of civil resistance (who promote nonviolent action on a strategic or utilitarian basis); the ongoing debate on diversity of tactics; and the ways in which power and privilege undermine solidarity. The colloquium highlights the power of women in these movements and addresses ways in which spiritually-engaged communities are well-positioned to address many of these key movement challenges.
Speaker 
Erica Chenoweth, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver; and Fellow, One Earth Future Foundation 
Moderator and Respondent 
Jocelyne Cesari, PhD, Professor and Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, UK; Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center on Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Religion, Politics, and Society at the Australian Catholic University; and Visiting Professor of Religion and Politics at Harvard Divinity School 

Erica Chenoweth, PhD, is an internationally recognized authority on political violence and its alternatives. She is Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Foreign Policy magazine ranked her among the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013. She won the 2014 Karl Deutsch Award, given annually by the International Studies Association to the scholar under 40 who has made the most significant impact on the field of international politics or peace research. Her book (with Maria J. Stephan), Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order and the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award. Chenoweth has authored or edited four books, including The Politics of Terror (Oxford, 2018) with Pauline Moore; Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict (MIT, 2010) with Adria Lawrence; Why Civil Resistance Works (Columbia University Press, 2011) with Maria J. Stephan; and Political Violence (Sage, 2013). Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Economist, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR’s Morning Edition, TEDxBoulder, Web Summit, and elsewhere. She co-hosts the blog Political Violence @ a Glance, hosts the blog Rational Insurgent, and blogs occasionally at The Monkey Cage. Along with Marie Berry, she co-directs the Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative, which seeks to shine a light on the work of women activists around the world. And along with Jeremy Pressman, she co-directs the Crowd Counting Consortium, a public interest project that documents political mobilization in the US during the Trump Administration. She holds a PhD and an MA in political science from the University of Colorado and a BA in political science and German from the University of Dayton.

Moderator and Respondent
Jocelyne Cesari, PhD, holds the Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is senior research fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center on Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Her work on religion, political violence and conflict resolution has garnered recognition and awards from numerous international organizations such as the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs, the Royal Society for Arts in the UK, or the European Academy of religion. She is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society at the Australian Catholic University. She teaches on contemporary Islam and politics at Harvard Divinity School and directs the Islam in the West program. Her most recent books are: Islam, Gender and Democracy in a Comparative Perspective, (Oxford University Press, 2017), The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity and the State (2014, Cambridge University Press), and Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Islam in Western Liberal Democracies (2013). Her book, When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States (2006), is a reference in the study of European Islam and integration of Muslim minorities in secular democracies. She edited the 2015 Oxford Handbook of European Islam. She coordinates a major web resource on Islam in Europe: http://www.euro-islam.info/.
Co-sponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. With generous support from Rev. Karen Vickers Budney, MDiv '91, and Mr. Albert J. Budney, Jr., MBA '74, as well as Farley Urmston and Karl Bandtel.

Recommended Reading
Chenoweth, Erica, and Maria J Stephan. Why Civil Resistance Works: the Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Columbia University Press, 2013.

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Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico: Roots of the Crisis
February 8
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Central Square Public Library, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge

How was the groundwork for the ongoing hurricane disaster in Puerto Rico laid by a legacy of U.S. intervention, colonialism, neo-liberal economic policy, unsustainable agricultural development, and the deepening climate crisis? 

How are Puerto Rican activists promoting economic sustainability and social justice?

Join us for a discussion with 
Jovanna Garcia-Soto, Grassroots International
Pedro Reina-PĆ©rez, University of Puerto Rico

Jovanna Garcia-Soto is the Program Coordinator for Latin America at Grassroots International. Grassroots International works in partnership with social movements to create a just and sustainable world by advancing the human rights to land, water, and food through global grantmaking, building solidarity across organizations and movements, and advocacy in the US. Prior to joining Grassroots’ Program team, Jovanna spent five years at the Chelsea Collaborative, where she directed their environmental justice program. She is originally from Puerto Rico and was involved there with the student movement for ending the US military occupation of Vieques. She has also spent some time working in Brazil with the riverine communities in the Amazonian region.

Pedro Reina-PĆ©rez is historian and writer who specializes in contemporary Spanish Caribbean history. The author of eleven books, he is a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and a visiting scholar at the David Rockefeller Center at Harvard.

Sponsored by Massachusetts Peace Action; Cosponsored by Grassroots International, Biodiversity for a Livable Planet, and American Friends Service Committee

For more information contact Rosalie at rosalie.h.anders@gmail.com and John at John_Macdougall@uml.edu.

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MIT IDEAS Spring Generator Dinner 2018
Thursday, February 8
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
MIT Stratton Student Center (W20) Lobdell, 2nd Floor, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Working on a project that will contribute to a better world? Want to recruit new team members? Want to get involved, but don't yet have an idea?

Join us for dinner. Pitch an idea. Find a team.
The IDEAS Generator Dinner is one of the best venues to find a team to join, pitch your idea to woo and recruit teammates, or pitch your skills to get hired onto a team. With the last chance to submit a Scope Statement just a few weeks away (March 1, 2018), get started at this event!
Event Program
6:45 Doors Open - Dinner
7:00 Opening Remarks
7:15 Advice from Past Participants
7:45 Sixty-second Pitches
8:15 Networking
9:00 Event Ends
-> PITCH YOUR IDEA / SKILL

During the event, we will have openings for 20-30 sixty-second pitches from attendees.You must sign up in advance to request a slot.
Sign up to pitch an idea or your skills when you register for this event. Those selected to pitch will be contacted before the event with instructions on the process.
Note: Pitching is optional! If you don’t want to pitch, just attend to mix and mingle, meet potential teammates, or hear about some of the exciting projects already underway. 

ABOUT THE COMPETITION
Teams must be led by a full-time MIT student with MIT students making significant contributions to the project’s innovation. However, if you are not an MIT student, you are still welcome to attend the Generator Dinner to pitch an idea or get hired on a team. For full competition criteria and guidelines, please visit our website: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/

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Let’s Talk Carbon Neutrality
Thursday, February 8
7:00 - 9:00 pm 
BU, Questrom School of Business, First Floor Auditorium, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

Carbon Free Boston is our new initiative to support our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050. It will review the costs and benefits of policies and technologies that will help us reach that goal. We’re working with our partners at Boston University’s Institute of Sustainable Energy and the Green Ribbon Commission to lead this analysis, which will help inform the next update to Boston’s Climate Action Plan.

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Friday, February 9
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Discovering, Understanding, and Harnessing Gut Microbiome-Drug Interactions
Friday, February 9
8:30AM TO 9:30AM
Harvard, Classroom 375 (formerly Room 310), 3rd floor, Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Emily Balskus (FAS-CCB)
Coffee, tea, and pastries will be served.

MSI Chalk-Talk

Contact Name:  Monica McCallum

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2018 Net Impact Summit 
Friday, February 9
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM EST
BU Questrom School of Business, 1 Silber Way, Boston
Cost:  $45 – $60

The sixth annual Impact Summit will be held on February 9, 2018 featuring keynote speakers Stephen Ritz and Bob Massie!
About the 2018 Impact Summit: 
Now in its sixth year, the Impact Summit is organized through a collaborative effort between NIB and Net Impact and MBA chapters. The annual Impact Summit brings together Boston-area professionals and MBA students for a full day of engaging discussions about how to make lasting social and environmental impact with their careers. The Impact Summit features speakers and exhibitors from the corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors.
Interested in joining Net Impact? Join here! Note: Premium members receive discounted pricing on the Impact Summit!
Download the event app for updates on speakers and sessions. EventsXD (event ID 4642), also viewable here. 
Work for a social impact-focused organization? Consider becoming a sponsor! Benefits include a table during the Impact Summit Expo, inclusion in event marketing, and complementary conference passes. For more information, please contact Matt Ng at mng@netimpactboston.org.
Agenda: 
9:30 am - 10:00 am  Registration / Coffee
10:00 am - 10:45 am Opening Keynote
Stephen Ritz, Author, Educator, Innovator, Urban Farmer
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Session One
Track One (Sustainability): Fair-trade and Ethical Sourcing: Supply Chain in Consumer Goods (Presented by Boston University)
Jesse Last, Director Cocoa Sourcing & Strategic Planning, Taza Chocolate
David Sachs, General Manager of Bay State Milling’s Mini-Milling and Blending business unit.
Ravdeep Jaidka, Oke USA
Cathy Resler, Head of Global Sustainability at Ocean Spray Cranberries
Track Two (Design and Innovation): Technology and Social Impact (Presented by Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter)
Track Three (Business and Impact): Social Impact Consulting (Presented by Tufts Fletcher)
Stacy Neal, FSG
Don Reed, PwC
Emily Gannam, The Fletcher School (moderator)
12:15 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch and Expo
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm Session Two
Track One (Sustainability): Clean Energy and Renewables (presented by Northeastern)
Mr. Joe Rife, Director MechE Alliance Program at MIT; Innovation Executive at Greentown Labs
Mr. Bradford Swing, Director of Energy Policy, City of Boston, Office of the Mayor
Mr. Andre Richter, Managing Consultant, Innogy Consulting
Mr. Ted Wiley, Co-Founder and CEO at Baseload Renewables
Track Two (Design and Innovation): Maximizing Impact on Non-Profit Boards (presented by Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter) 
Julie Crockford, Executive Director, Empower Success Corps
Track Three (Business and Impact): Next Wave for Impact Investing: The Circular Nature of Capital Formation, Connecting Social Businesses to Investor Values (presented by Boston University)
Ryan E. Dings, COO & General Counsel, Sunwealth
Jennifer Murtie, COO, Pathstone Federal Street
Pat Miguel Tomaino, Director of Socially Responsible Investing, Zevin Asset Management, LLC
Darby Hobbs, CEO/Founder, SOCIAL3, Co-Founder and Chairperson Conscious Capitalism Boston Chapter and Professor Strategy and Innovation, Boston University (moderator)
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Session Three
Track One (Sustainability): Reducing Food Insecurity Through Agriculture (Presented by Tufts)
Julie Nash, Senior Manager on Ceres Food Team
Track Two (Design and Innovation): Design Thinking Workshop (presented by Net Impact Boston Professional Chapter)
Alexander Dale, Senior Officer, Sustainability Community, Solve
Sharon Bort, Community Relations Officer, Sustainability, Solve
Track Three (Business and Impact): Social Responsibility: Giving Back to Communities (Presented by Clark)
Johanna Jobin, Director, Global EHS & Sustainability, ‎Biogen
Isa Garbutt, Executive Director, Illampu Sustainability Epicenter
Pauline Jurasinski, ‎Associate Director of Program Management & Business Processes, Sanofi Genzyme
 Remke van Zadelhoff, Independent Sustainability Consultant
Will O'Brien, Associate Professor of Practice - Sustainability, Clark University (moderator)
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm Closing Keynote
Bob Massie, former executive director of Ceres, environmentalist, entrepreneur and Gubernatorial candidate
4:45 pm - 5:45 pm Happy Hour Reception

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Shaun King is Speaking at Northeastern University in Boston
Friday, February 9
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Northeastern, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston

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Biology at Transformative Frontiers
Friday February 9
2:00pm - 3:00pm
MIT, Building 76-156, KI Auditorium

Patrick O. Brown, CEO and Founder, Impossible Foods Inc.

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Friday, February 9
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT,  Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Jerry Gretzinger, Keynote
Storytelling Space Group
This symposium, convened by the Storytelling Space Group, brings together scholars, architects, psychologists, geographers, artists, and authors to discuss worlds, world-building, and the potentials of world-building as a provocative tool for designers of the built environment. An audacious feat of the imagination, world-building creates rich, challenging, and daunting worlds. As a process, it offers a medium for escaping to the fantastic, the banal, and the dark. Built worlds open up imaginations both deeply personal and overpoweringly collective. They invite exploration, examination, and experimentation with pressing ecological, economic, and political issues. The interdisciplinary group will speculate on how a rekindled discourse on imagination & world-building prompts new insights into our relationship with objects, spaces, and environments, but also with each other, our future, and the worlds in which we are all enmeshed. 

And, of course, in the end we want to tell better stories and build better worlds.

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Saturday, February 10
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Worlds & World-building
Saturday, February 10
1:30 Introduction
2:00-3:30 Panel 1: Worlds
4:30-6:00 Panel 2: World-Building
MIT,  Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Storytelling Space Group
This symposium, convened by the Storytelling Space Group, brings together scholars, architects, psychologists, geographers, artists, and authors to discuss worlds, world-building, and the potentials of world-building as a provocative tool for designers of the built environment. An audacious feat of the imagination, world-building creates rich, challenging, and daunting worlds. As a process, it offers a medium for escaping to the fantastic, the banal, and the dark. Built worlds open up imaginations both deeply personal and overpoweringly collective. They invite exploration, examination, and experimentation with pressing ecological, economic, and political issues. The interdisciplinary group will speculate on how a rekindled discourse on imagination & world-building prompts new insights into our relationship with objects, spaces, and environments, but also with each other, our future, and the worlds in which we are all enmeshed. 

And, of course, in the end we want to tell better stories and build better worlds.

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Monday, February 12
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PAOC Colloquium: Liz Moyer (University of Chicago)
Monday, February 12
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

About the Speaker
My research interests fall in two main threads. The first includes the use of the isotopic composition of atmospheric water vapor as a tracer of convective processes, cirrus formation, and stratosphere-troposphere exchange; and the design of spectroscopic techniques for in-situ trace gas measurements. The second includes climate (and human) response to greenhouse-gas forcing; development of tools for impacts assessment; statistical emulation of climate model output; and climate and energy policy evaluation.

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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The Stylized Facts of Inequality
Monday, February 12
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

Daniel Hirschman (Brown, Sociology)

STS Circle at Harvard

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India's Coal Industry: History and Prospects
Monday, February 12
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Tufts, Cabot 206, 170 Packard Avenue, Medford

Rohit Chandra is currently a sixth-year doctoral student at the Harvard Kennedy School focusing primarily on energy policy and economic history in India. His dissertation covers the economic and political history of the Indian coal industry from 1959-present. In particular, he looks at how the role of the Indian state, particularly through its state-owned enterprises (first NCDC and then Coal India), has adapted to various changes in the national political and economic environment. Other than his dissertation, he is also currently working with the Regulatory Assistance Project on electricity in Jharkhand and Brookings India on coal sector reforms. Prior to his doctoral work he worked at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and the Center for Advanced Study of India in Philadelphia. 

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Tech Talk for Educators: Social Media for Family Engagement
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Education, Special Events
COST  Free and open to the public
DETAILS  By better understanding digital trends in social media, educators can open channels of communication with students and families. From likes to retweets and comments, social media provides endless opportunities for families to get involved. Yet these tools can also raise a number of questions. What platform is best for open discussions? What type of content is most interesting or useful to parents?
Join the Harvard Ed Portal for Tech Talk for Educators: Social Media for Family Engagement, a free workshop presented by Rhianon Gutierrez, Digital Learning Specialist at Boston Public Schools. Attendees will gain hands-on experience with select social media tools to help promote meaningful communication and digital citizenship practices with students and families. They will also hear from other educators about their experiences using these tools.

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The Epidemic of Poverty: The Government Imperative
WHEN  Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE  Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S)  Abdul El-Sayed, physician; former health director of the City of Detroit; candidate for the governor of Michigan
COST  Free
DETAILS  After Detroit’s bankruptcy, El-Sayed rebuilt the city’s health department to meet the needs of Detroit’s most vulnerable citizens. His achievements include providing vision care to children, forcing Marathon Petroleum to reduce its sulfur dioxide emissions in the state’s most polluted zip code, and screening every Detroit public school building for lead poisoning in the water. Now, he’s running for governor of Michigan. Register online.

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Lesson on Mindfulness: Perspective from Zen Buddhist Priest in Kyoto
Monday, February 12
5:30pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Rev. Takafumi Zenryu Kawakami, Deputy head priest, Shunkoin Temple, Myoshinji, Kyoto will lead us in a thoughtful discussion and practice of mindfulness.

Mindfulness has become a significant phenomenon in the West that is also becoming increasingly popular in Asia. Mindfulness is generally defined as non-religious meditation. As a secular practice supported by scientific evidence, mindfulness is now accepted as a valid medical and therapeutic method that has been broadly incorporated into workplace and school wellness programs.

This Western and de-contextualized perspective of mindfulness began in the late 1970s. The practice of mindfulness in Japan, however, has its roots in Buddhism and is not just about meditation. To fully appreciate the importance and meaning of mindfulness, it should be considered within the context of Buddhist philosophy, like the concept of no-self. Ultimately, mindfulness is about much more than achieving temporal happiness and relaxation, it is about changing one’s approach to actuality. This talk will highlight the importance of re-contextualizing mindfulness and present its holistic practice from the Zen Buddhist perspective.

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Boston New Technology Startup Showcase #BNT86
Monday, February 12
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
10 Ware Street · Cambridge
Upon Arrival: Look for BNT signs and be ready to present your Photo ID at our check-in desk to receive your name tag.
Cost: $12.00 /per person

Join Boston New Technology at Alley Cambridge on February 12th to:
See 7 innovative and exciting local technology product demos, presented by startup founders
Network with 150 attendees from the Boston-area startup/tech community
Get your free professional headshot photo from Kubica & Nguyen
Enjoy dinner with beer, wine, other beverages and more!

Please click here to share/tweet this event. (https://ctt.ec/422gQ)

Each presenter gets 5 minutes for a product overview & demonstration and 5 minutes for Q&A. Please follow @BostonNewTech (http://twitter.com/BostonNewTech/) and support our startups by posting on social media using our #BNT86 hashtag. We'll retweet you!

To save on tickets and enjoy exclusive benefits, purchase a BNT VIP Membership. Learn more: http://bit.ly/bNtvip

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How to Think Globally & Act Locally
Monday, February 12
7:00 PM
Belmont Library (Assembly Room), 336 Concord Avenue, Belmont
Note: Dr. Cziczo's appearance is by special request.

Dan Cziczo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Secondary Appointment: Civil and Environmental Engineering Cziczo Research Group

A discussion: how to be effective global citizens:
the most important things to know about climate change
the most effective ways to shape climate policy
the most effective actions to take individually
Selected awards

The Citizen Literacy Series: science-media-civic literacy for an informed, engaged public 
Science for the Public, Belmont Media Center, and Belmont Public Library

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Taking Note: Connecting Citizen Science to Science Learning
Monday, February 12
7:00–8:30pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain

Colleen Hitchcock, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Department of Biology and 
Colleen Hitchcock will speak about the value of taking note of natural phenomena and the contributions such actions can make to science, society, and one’s own scientific and bio-literacy. She will share how citizen science is used in courses and on campus to educate and engage students. Finally, Colleen will introduce the 2018 City Nature Challenge on iNaturalist, a citizen science project coordinated by Environmental Studies at Brandeis University, UMass Boston, Zoo New England, New England Ocean Science Education Collaborative, Mass Audubon, Encyclopedia of Life at Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, MIT Senseable lab, and Earthwatch Institute. Following Colleen’s presentation, Danny Schissler, Research Assistant in the Friedman Lab, will introduce TreeVersity, an online citizen science initiative at the Arnold Arboretum to classify over 25,000 historic and contemporary plant images.
Fee Free, but registration requested

Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

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Tuesday, February 13
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Sr. Helen Prejean at the Harvard Law Forum
WHEN  Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Law School, Langdell Hall North, Vorenberg Classroom, Room 225, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Law Forum
SPEAKER(S)  Sr. Helen Prejean
CONTACT INFO Pete Davis, PeDavis@jd18.law.harvard.edu, 347-453-3135
DETAILS  Sr. Helen Prejean is the nation's leading death penalty abolitionist. She is the author of the bestselling book Dead Man Walking, which was made into an Oscar-winning movie with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.
She is coming to Harvard Law School to share her experience and wisdom from a life of fighting abolish the death penalty.
The event is open to the public and pizza will be provided. Contact PeDavis@jd18.law.harvard.edu for more information.

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How to use Life Cycle Assessment to Strengthen your Sustainability Program
Tuesday, February 13 
12- 1pm ET
Webinar

With presentations from Kohler Co. and Hypertherm
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) when implemented into your sustainability program, can constructively influence business decisions and mitigate risks within product material and supplier selections. It can also enhance product efficacy and brand integrity.

Case in point...
Hear from Jeff Zeman, Principal Environmental Engineer at Kohler Co., a company committed to sustainability as critical to its mission of gracious living for those touched by its products and services , and Robin Tindall, Environmental Stewardship Manager at Hypertherm, a world-class manufacturer and recent Environmental Merit Award recipient from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about how LCA has greatly and positively influenced their sustainability programs. 

Two uniquely different companies with two uniquely different successful approaches to sustainability, both grounded in life cycle assessment.

Kohler uses life cycle assessment to inform its Design for Environment (DfE) program, and to provide environmental impact transparency through Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).  
Certified EPDs are offered through in-house experts in product sustainability, with ever-growing transparency capability for hundreds of individual product models on demand.  EPDs allow informed decision-making for both Kohler designers as part of the product development process and customers, by disclosing a product's cradle-to-grave environmental impacts and product certifications. Many of Kohler Co.'s clients seek products with EPDs for credits towards LEED-certified building projects.

Hypertherm has conducted screening LCAs across all product families. 
And to bring LCA to the drawing table, Hypertherm created their own custom Design for Sustainability Scorecard, which is being used for new products in the design phase, as well as in the research and development phases. This allows designers to ask questions, such as which material has fewer environmental impacts, while design revisions can still be easily made.

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Speaker Series: Garrett Graff
Tuesday, February 13
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist and historian, has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security. Today, he serves as the director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program, and is a contributor to WIRED, Longreads, and CNN. He’s written for publications from Esquire to the New York Times, and served as the editor of two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine, which he helped lead to its first National Magazine Award, the industry’s highest honor. Graff is the author of multiple books, including The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House, which examined the role of technology in the 2008 presidential race, and The Threat Matrix: The FBI At War, which traces the history of the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts. His most recent book, Raven Rock, about the government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, was published in May 2017. He also is the chair of the board of the National Conference on Citizenship, a congressionally-charted civic engagement group founded by Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

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Governor Francis W. Sargent: Fisheries Manager
Tuesday, February 13
5:15PM
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston

The Massachusetts Historical Society hosts Benjamin Kochan, Boston University with comment by Brian Payne, Bridgewater State University. Free and open to the public. Light sandwich supper will follow. 

Boston Environmental History Seminar

Contact Name:  seminars@masshist.org

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Boston FinTech: The Role of AI in Financial Services
Tuesday, February 13
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
ImpactHub Boston, 50 Milk Street, Boston

Artificial Intelligence (AI), once the domain of science fiction books and films, is now increasingly commonplace. From Amazon's recommendation engine to driverless vehicles to virtual assistants, AI is increasingly part of our everyday life. AI is also having a significant impact on financial services – from algorithmic stock trading applications, to credit card fraud detection and “robo-advisors” providing investment advice. We are convening a panel of hands-on FinTech experts to discuss the use of AI, its future and the ethical implications of its use in influencing what is arguably some of our most important decisions. 

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Not Built to Last: Disrupting planning outcomes through temporary placemaking
Tuesday, February 13
6:30pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building 7-429, Long Lounge, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Panelists: 
Zofia Basista, Plateau Urbain
Aurore Rapin, Yes We Camp
Dan Campo, The Accidental Playground
Rahul Mehrotra, Ephemeral Urbanism

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Ecological and Psychological Perspectives on Climate Change
The Science for the Public 2018 Science Lectures at MIT 
Tuesday, February 13
7:00 PM 
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge

Brian Helmuth, Ph.D., Professor, Marine and Environmental Sciences, Marine Science Center, College of Social Sciences & Humanities; and School for Public Policy/Urban Affairs, Northeastern University Helmuth Lab

John Coley, Ph.D.,, Associate Professor, Psychology, Northeastern University

the impact of climate change on marine ecological systems and the problem of psychological resistance to the facts

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With Passion: An Activist Lawyer’s Journey
Tuesday February 13
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline

Michael Meltsner 
Growing up in a Depression-battered family, one tangled by a mortal secret, With Passion tells the improbable story of an unsung hero of the civil rights movement who thought of himself as a “miscast” lawyer but ended up defending peaceful protesters, representing Muhammad Ali, suing Robert Moses, counseling Lenny Bruce, bringing the case that integrated hundreds of Southern hospitals, and being named “the principal architect of the death penalty abolition movement in the United States.”

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Opportunity
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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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Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org

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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas.   Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities.  Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers.  Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs

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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info@bnid.org if you have any questions!

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Boston Maker Spaces - 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 Energy Club:  http://mitenergyclub.org/
Sustainability at Harvard:  http://green.harvard.edu/events
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


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.
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