Sunday, May 13, 2018

Energy (and Other) Events - May 13, 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, May 14
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12pm  PAOC Colloquium: Marine ice sheet dynamics
12:30pm  Cyber Alliance Speaker Series: Robot Lawyers: Automating Legal Compliance for Transferring Private Data
4pm  Demand for Electricity in the Poor Economy 
5:30pm  E4Dev Biweekly speaker series:  Nick Haggerty
6pm  US Foreign Policy in Asia
6:30pm  Is Zero Waste possible?
7pm  Drawdown  

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Tuesday, May 15
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7:30am  Boston Sustainability Breakfast
9am  Place and Race Matter: Building Communities of Opportunity for Children and Youth
12pm  Shaping Consumption: How Social Network Manipulation Tactics Are Impacting Amazon and Influencing Consumers
12pm  Science Diplomacy Mini-Symposium
1pm  Hearing on Environmental Bond Bill H.4438 before the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets
1:30pm  Experts Meeting: Humanitarian Drones and Aerial Artificial Intelligence
3pm  xTalk with Peter Barendse & Kyle Keane on Activating Computational Thinking on MITx using Wolfram Technologies
4pm  Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society
4:15pm  Skill-biased Technological Transitions 
5:30pm  Prather Public Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing: Biology, Technology and Ethics
6pm  Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: Systems of Innovation
6pm  Urban Gardening: PLANTING FUNDAMENTALS
6:30pm  Time Travel
7pm  The Efficiency Paradox:  What Big Data Can't Do
7pm  Science for the People Meeting
7pm  We're In This Together: Battling for Clean Energy and Fighting Fracking from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts
7:30pm  The List:  A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year
7:30pm  PLAYsentations: Student Toy Designs

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Wednesday, May 16
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8am  Climate Adaptation and the Commonwealth’s Transportation Infrastructure:  Informing Current Practice/Planning for the Future
9:30am  "Machine Learning and Data Science in Politics" Poster Session
10am  Rally and Lobby for Solar
10am  LANDLINE VISION PLAN:  MAPC's 1,400 mile Metro Boston Trail and Greenway Plan
12pm  Prather Scientific Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on the CRISPR-Cas Toolbox for Genome Editing
12:30pm  to Crumple Zones: Enabling Limited Access Without Mass Surveillance
3:30pm  Guiding principles for peptide-based, life-like nanotechnology
3:30pm  Thesis Defence:  Protecting User Data in Large-Scale Web Services
4pm  The genome of the Last Common Ancestor: il catalogo è questo
5:30pm  MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2018
6pm  New Frontiers in Energy Blockchain Applications
6pm  Massachusetts General Postdoc Association HAPPY HOUR
6pm  Climate Fixes? Look to Nature!  A benefit party, auction, beer-tasting, fundraiser and fun! for Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
6:30pm  The Mechanical Side of Artificial Intelligence
6:30pm  Future of Listening: Data and Music
7pm  How to Change Your Mind:  What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
7pm  From Cold War to Hot Peace:  An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia
7pm  Into the Raging Sea
7pm  Terrascope Radio Broadcast
7pm  Better Internet for All: The Public Internet Option presented by the ACLU
7pm  Much Ado About Mumps: Using Genomics to Track Virus Outbreaks in Massachusetts & Beyond
8pm  Resistance Mic! at Oberon

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Thursday, May 17
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8:30am  Emerging Trends Series: Microgrids - A Model for Innovative Partnerships
10am  The Solidarity Economy: An Answer to Economic Inequity?
12pm  Environment-Sustainability Lunch Seminar: Genetically Engineered Solutions to Environmental Nitrogen Paradoxes
12pm  Prather Scientific Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on DNA integration and detection by CRISPR-Cas RNA-guided proteins
12:30pm  Public Funding for Cleantech Startups
1:30pm  Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data
3pm  Democratic Gubernatorial Debate
5:30pm  Unpacking the Backpack: The Resiliency of Trauma & Race 
6pm  FAIL! - The moments we generally don't share
6pm  WeWork Celebrating Diversity
7pm  Seal Studies: What Aquarium Scientists Are Learning About Disease, Physiology, and Population Dynamics to Help Protect Seals
7pm  When Einstein Walked with Gödel:  Excursions to the Edge of Thought
7pm  Von Neumann and the Origin of Life

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Friday, May 18 - Sunday, May 20
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Nurse Hackathon 2018: Hacking the Opioid Crisis

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Friday, May 18
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10:30am  Final Doctoral Thesis Defense:   Low-Grade Heat Conversion into Electricity by Thermoelectric and Electrochemical Systems
10:30am  "Machine Learning and Data Science in Politics" Poster Session (Graduate)
7pm  Chernobyl:  The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe

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Saturday, May 19
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11am  Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival
1pm  Green Your Streets! Allston Community Planting 

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Sunday, May 20
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12pm  IGNITE: A conference for creative community builders

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Monday, May 21
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12pm  Book Launch: Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers 
2:30pm  Stereotype Threat and Identity Threat: The Science of a Diverse Community
5pm  VRHealth presents Virtual treatment and exercise rooms
6:30pm  Health Benefits of Going Green

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Tuesday, May 22
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11am  Modeling Common Ground for Multimodal Communication
12pm  Jessica Fjeld and Mason Kortz, Cyberlaw Clinicians at Harvard Law 
Art that Imitates Art: Computational Creativity and Creative Contracting
12pm  Film Screening: The Chinese Exclusion Act
6pm  How Can Trees Mitigate Climate Change?
6pm  The Changing Energy Landscape in Massachusetts – Annual Banquet
6:30pm  To End a Presidency:  The Power of Impeachment
7pm  A Short Border Handbook: A Journey Through the Immigrant’s Labyrinth

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

How to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change

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Monday, May 14
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PAOC Colloquium: Marine ice sheet dynamics
Monday, May 14
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

Brent Minchew (MIT)
Marine ice sheets are continental-scale masses of glacier ice that rest on beds that lie below sea level. Because ice floats, this configuration is susceptible to a buoyancy-driven instability, known as the marine ice sheet instability, that can lead to rapid discharge of grounded ice to the ocean and high rates of sea level rise. This potential for collapse makes the West Antarctic Ice Sheet—the only extant marine ice sheet—the largest source of uncertainty in future sea level rise and a key player in abrupt changes in past sea level. Constraining the past and forecasting the future behavior of marine ice sheets is challenging because of the complex rheology of glacier ice and interactions between the ice sheets, oceans, atmosphere, and the solid earth. These factors help drive rich dynamical behavior that has only recently been brought into greater focus through improved observations and an increasingly sophisticated understanding of glacier mechanics. In this talk, I will give a broad introduction to marine ice sheet dynamics followed by a more focused discussion on the mechanics of lateral shear margins and ice-shelf buttressing, two of the most important resistances to ice flow that have the potential to reshape our understanding of marine ice sheet behavior and sea level rise.

About the Speaker
Brent Minchew is a geophysicist working to understand the interactions between climate, the cryosphere, and the solid Earth. He uses a combination of geodetic observations—primarily interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)—and physical models to study dynamical systems and their various responses to environmental forcing.

The bulk of Minchew’s research focuses on the dynamics of extant glaciers, with an emphasis on the mechanics of glacier beds, ice-ocean interactions, and ice rheology. By modulating ice flow and directly influencing glacier erosion rates, these factors play critical roles in glacier and ice sheet evolution, the dynamic response of glaciers to climate change, and the impact of glaciers on landform evolution and the global carbon cycle over human to geological timescales.

Minchew’s preferred approach to understanding complex systems is to focus on short-timescale (hourly to sub-decadal) variations in the dynamics of large-scale systems in response to known forcings. Examples of this work include spatiotemporal observations and models of the dynamic response of glaciers to surface meltwater flux, ocean tidal forcing, and ice shelf thinning.

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Cyber Alliance Speaker Series: Robot Lawyers: Automating Legal Compliance for Transferring Private Data
Monday, May 14
12:30 pm-  2:00 pm
BU School of Law (Room 203), 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

Stephen Chong, Harvard
Join the Cyber Alliance for a talk featuring Stephen Chong, Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University. In this talk, Prof. Stephen Chong and Harvard Berkman Center's Alexandra Wood will present work-in-progress on expert system support to automate data deposit and release decisions within a repository, and generate custom license agreements for data transfers.

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Demand for Electricity in the Poor Economy 
Monday, May 14
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
MIT, Building E52-164, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Michael Greenstone (University of Chicago) Joint with IO and Development

Applied Microeconomics Seminar (Joint with IO Workshop)

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E4Dev Biweekly speaker series 
Monday, May 14 
5:30 pm 
MIT, Building E19-319, 400 Main Street, Cambridge

Nick Haggerty, MIT Economics Department

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US Foreign Policy in Asia
Monday, May 14
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Dorchester

Wellesley professor of Asian studies and political science Katharine H.S. Moon and senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Sheila A. Smith discuss US foreign policy issues in Asia with Ambassador (Ret.) Nicholas Burns, Harvard professor of diplomacy and international relations.

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Is Zero Waste possible? 
Monday, May 14
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Beacon Hill Friends House, 8 Chestnut Street, Boston

What is Zero Waste? Is it possible?
Come learn about zero waste as a necessary framework for social justice, climate change resilience, and economic prosperity. Three zero waste experts - Kate Bailey of Ecocycle, Ahmina Maxey of the Global Alliance of Incineration Alternatives (GAIA), and Kirstie Pecci of the Conservation Law Foundation - will share their experience working on the front lines of zero waste implementations and ask questions about possible zero waste solution implementations locally, nationally, and internationally.

This event is co-sponsored by Beacon Hill Friends House and Zero Waste Boston coalition.

Zero Waste Boston coalition is an alliance of advocacy organizations that support Zero Waste policies as a tool to improve public health and minimize climate impacts while creating good, green jobs and business ownership opportunities for Boston residents. The coalition is not affiliated with the City of Boston.

Beacon Hill Friends House is a center for Quaker education and witness, the home of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting, and a residential intentional community inspired by Quaker principles.

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Drawdown 
Monday, May 14
7:00-9:00 pm
Cambridge Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge  

Film and panel discussion.  Drawdown is a plan by Paul Hawken on addressing climate change with existing solutions.  The panelists are Ben Hellerstein, Environment Massachusetts; Cammy Peterson, MAPC; Nathan Phillips, Boston University.

Editorial Comment:  My notes on Drawdown are available at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2017/09/drawdown.html

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Tuesday, May 15
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Tuesday, May 15
7:30 AM – 9:00 AM EDT
Pret A Manger, 101 Arch Street, Boston

Join us every month for Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals for networking, discussion, and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time between 7:30 and 9:00 am.

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Place and Race Matter: Building Communities of Opportunity for Children and Youth
WHEN  Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 9 – 10:30 a.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Askwith Hall, Longfellow, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Education Redesign Lab
Harvard Graduate School of Education
SPEAKER(S)  Angela Glover Blackwell
DESCRIPTION  Please join the Education Redesign Lab for a talk by Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO and Founder of PolicyLink. Blackwell will discuss the importance of creating community-based systems of support that incorporate the full range of services and opportunities needed for children to grow up healthy, well-educated, and ready for success in adulthood. This event is the keynote for the Lab's 5th By All Means convening.
About By All Means
The By All Means initiative is addressing the iron law correlation between socioeconomic status and education outcomes by partnering with visionary mayors and superintendents from across the country. Each city has created a Children’s Cabinet — a cross-sector team made up of mayors, superintendents, health and human services directors, and community and civic leaders — to embark on a redesign process that is focused on creating integrated systems of opportunity and support from early childhood through to higher education.
About the Education Redesign Lab
The Education Redesign Lab, headed by Professor Paul Reville, is working to build a silo-breaking 21st century engine for education to restore social mobility and ensure that all kids can reach their full potential.

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Shaping Consumption: How Social Network Manipulation Tactics Are Impacting Amazon and Influencing Consumers
Tuesday, May 15
12:00 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1015, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Complimentary lunch will be served
Event will be live webcast below at 12:00 pm on the day of the event at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2018/luncheon/05/DiResta

featuring Renee DiResta
Narrative manipulation issues - such as manufactured consensus, brigading, harassment, information laundering, fake accounts, news voids, and more - are increasingly well-documented problems affecting the entire social ecosystem. This has had negative consequences for information integrity, and for trust. This talk examines the ways that these same manipulative tactics are being deployed on Amazon, which is now the dominant product search engine and a battlefield for economically and ideologically motivated actors.

About Renee
Renee DiResta is the Director of Research at New Knowledge, and Head of Policy at nonprofit Data for Democracy. Renee investigates the spread of disinformation and manipulated narratives across social networks, and assists policymakers in understanding and responding to the problem. She has advised Congress, the State Department, and other academic, civic, and business organizations about understanding and responding to computational propaganda and information operations. In 2017, Renee was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar, and had the opportunity to continue her work with the support of the Presidents Bush, President Clinton, and the LBJ Foundation. In 2018, she received a Mozilla Foundation fellowship and affiliation with the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University to work on their Media, Misinformation, and Trust project. She is a Founding Advisor to the Center for Humane Technology, and a Staff Associate at Columbia University Data Science Institute.

Previously, Renee was part of the founding team of venture-backed supply chain logistics technology platform Haven, where she ran business development and marketing, and a co-founder of Vaccinate California, a parent-led grassroots legislative advocacy group. Renee has also been an investor at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), focused on hardware and logistics startups, and an emerging markets derivatives trader at Jane Street Capital. Her work and writing have been featured in the New York Times, Politico, Slate, Wired, Fast Company, Inc., and the Economist. She is the author of the O’Reilly book “The Hardware Startup: Building Your Product, Business, and Brand”, and lives on the web at http://reneediresta.com and @noUpside.

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Science Diplomacy Mini-Symposium
Tuesday, May 15
12 to 4pm
Tufts, Behrakis Auditorium, 1st Floor of the Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences, 150 Harrison Avenue, Boston

The first Science-Diplomacy Mini-Symposium at Tufts University is being co-convened on 15 May 2018 by the Science Diplomacy Center, Institute for Global Leadership and Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. This symposium is made possible by the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) via the award of a TIE Ventures Grant (please see below).

If you are simply willing to attend the symposium, please feel free to come on Tuesday 15 May at 1pm.

Objective & Format: The Science Diplomacy Mini-Symposium is designed as a university-wide dialogue in which natural and social scientists can share elements of their research relating to Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) in view of international collaborations, as well as contributions to diplomatic and policymaking processes. The overarching framework for the discussion is the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Building on previous productive symposia at Tufts, speakers will deliver lightning talks, followed by panel discussion.

A light lunch and refreshments will be served from 12 to 1pm.

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Hearing on Environmental Bond Bill H.4438 before the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets
Tuesday, May 15
1:00pm - 5:00pm
MA State House, Room A-1, Boston

H.4438 - An Act promoting climate change adaptation, environmental and natural resource protection, and investment in recreational assets and opportunity

More information from Mass Power Forward at https://www.facebook.com/events/871188626407167/

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Experts Meeting: Humanitarian Drones and Aerial Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday, May 15
1:30 pm to 5:00 pm
swissnex Boston, 420 Broadway,  Cambridge

A discussion of pivotal issues facing the international humanitarian community with respect to the deployment of drones in disaster situations.

swissnex Boston, WeRobotics, and MIT Solve present Experts Meeting addressing pivotal issues facing the international humanitarian community with respect to the deployment of drones in disaster situations.

The development of protocols and guidelines to inform the safe, responsible and effective use of drones in disaster zones started in earnest in 2014 through the work of the Humanitarian UAV Network. The Experts Meeting will review the latest developments around the Code of Conduct and specific guidelines, particularly those on conflict sensitivity and the draft guidelines around the use of humanitarian cargo drones. A key goal of the Experts Meeting will be to address the implementation challenges of said Code of Conduct and formulate corresponding strategies for implementation contexts, including the encouragement of formal institutional endorsements.

Next, we’ll focus on Aerial Artificial Intelligence in order to take stock of the very latest developments, opportunities and challenges in the application of AI, machine learning and computer vision to automatically analyze aerial imagery with respect to features of direct interest to the international aid and development community. The Experts Meeting will seek to identify synergies in existing and planned research as well as projects to formulate a common roadmap in the development of AI solutions for aerial imagery.

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xTalk with Peter Barendse & Kyle Keane on Activating Computational Thinking on MITx using Wolfram Technologies
Tuesday, May 15
3:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 3-333, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge

This xTalk will present a high-level overview from two MIT lecturers in DMSE about their newly-developed framework that combines MITx and Wolfram technologies to let faculty and instructors add creative and contextual computational educational components into their online and residential classes.

Offering a bird’s eye view of what is possible with current technical limits, this talk is not about teaching students to code traditional topics in computing like low-level sorting algorithms (although the framework supports this), but instead, it will aim to broaden the conversation around computing in education to accommodate the importance of learning to think computationally within the context of (and without distracting from) the core subject matter.

A wide range of working examples of functioning MITx components that have been deployed using the framework will be presented, including details about how to find more information and instructions to adapt the framework for different subjects. Examples such as:
A component where students upload data they collected from measurements on a field trip; the uploaded data is then automatically graded within some tolerance.
An app that lets students record and annotate images that they submit for credit; the images are then automatically compiled and deployed onto an interactive map.
A framework that auto-grades code submitted in response to open-ended coding and visualization challenges; students then get their solutions to the problems.
This talk will summarize what is currently possible when combining the delivery power of MITx with the creative power of Wolfram Language, including components such Mathematica and other related tools and modules, with the ultimate hope that this will spark further interest and exploration among faculty and instructors.

Dr. Kyle Keane has been a Lecturer in DMSE since 2015. His main charge has been to infuse contextual computational instruction throughout the core undergraduate curriculum. Before joining MIT, Kyle worked for three years as a programmer at Wolfram Research (Makers of Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha).  discipline.

Dr. Peter Barendse is a Visiting Lecturer focused on helping to bring contextual computing into the freshmen year at MIT. He teaches a Freshmen Advising Seminar called “Code your GIRs!” and is working to bring weekly coding assignments into 8.02. Before joining MIT, Peter was a Lead Developer at Wolfram|Alpha focusing on the automated step-by-step math solution generator.

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Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society 
Tuesday, May 15
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
MIT, Building E51-335, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge 

Glen Weyl is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft New England. Join the discussion on the author's themes in his new book, which describe how replacing capitalism, democracy and borders with creative forms of auctions can eliminate most inequality, restore robust economic growth, heal our politics and create a truly just society. Reception to follow.

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Skill-biased Technological Transitions  
Tuesday, May 15
4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
MIT, Building E52-432, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Martin Beraja (MIT)

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Prather Public Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing: Biology, Technology and Ethics
WHEN  Tuesday, May 15, 2018, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Science Center B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology & Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology
SPEAKER(S)  Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley, HHMI
DETAILS  CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing: Biology, Technology and Ethics
Gene editing with CRISPR technology is transforming biology. Understanding the underlying chemical mechanisms of RNA-guided DNA and RNA cleavage provides a foundation for both conceptual advances and technology development. I will discuss how bacterial CRISPR adaptive immune systems inspire creation of powerful genome editing tools, enabling advances in both fundamental biology and applications in medicine. I will also discuss the ethical challenges of some of these applications.

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Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: Systems of Innovation
Tuesday, May 15
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building 54-100, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

This lecture series, which includes eminent researchers and innovators from a wide variety of fields across MIT, will showcase the numerous forms that innovation takes and the pathways it can take from ideation to implementation. 

Topic Summary
Innovation happens at a variety of scales and with the involvement of innumerable parties. Prof. Lester will discuss how systems of innovation are built, how they compare with another, and how they can be harnessed to tackle the energy issues that face us today.

About the Speaker
Richard Lester is the Japan Steel Industry Professor and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he oversees the international activities of the Institute. From 2009 to 2015 he served as head of MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, leading the Department successfully through a period of rapid rebuilding and strategic renewal. His research is concerned with innovation strategy and management, with a frequent focus on the energy and manufacturing sectors. He is widely known for his work on local, regional, and national systems of innovation, and he has led major studies of national and regional competitiveness and innovation performance commissioned by governments and industry groups around the world. He is the founding director and faculty chair of the MIT Industrial Performance Center.

Professor Lester is also well known for his teaching and research on nuclear technology innovation, management and control. He has been a long-time advocate of advanced nuclear reactor and fuel cycle technologies to improve the safety and economic performance of nuclear power, and his studies in the field of nuclear waste management helped provide the foundation for new institutional and technological strategies to deal with this longstanding problem. His latest book, Unlocking Energy Innovation: How America Can Build a Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Energy System (written with David Hart), outlines a strategy for mobilizing America’s innovation resources in support of a decades-long transition to an affordable and reliable low-carbon global energy system.

Professor Lester obtained his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College and earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT. He has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1979. He is an advisor to governments, corporations, foundations and non-profit groups, and he serves as chair of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy.

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Urban Gardening: PLANTING FUNDAMENTALS
Tuesday, May 15
6pm to 7:30pm
Cambridge public library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

Part of series sponsored by Cambridge Conservation Commission, with lecturers from New England Wildflower Society.  Other sessions this summer, all at the library: Rain gardens, 6/30,10:30; Lawn alternatives, 7/28,10:30; native plants book talk, 8/18, 10:30. Much more info: http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/  

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Time Travel
Tuesday, May 15
6:30 PM 
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington St, Belmont MA (Dr. Toomey will connect with us via google-hangouts at BMC studio
NOTE: this event was rescheduled from Apr 17 to May 15

David Toomey, Ph.D. Professor of English, UMASS-Amherst; co-director of the English Department’s Professional Writing and Technical Communication Program. Author of The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics and Weird Life: The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own  

David Toomey discusses the art of "translating" complex but fascinating science for the general reader, a task that is increasingly important in an era of constant discoveries that are changing our lives and perspectives. In his book that is the focus of tonight's discussion, The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics, Dr. Toomey brings to the reader the speculations of Einstein, Thorne and other scientists about time-travel. We learn also how science fiction contributed to the development of the time-travel concept.  

from the Toomey website: David Toomey's most recent writing may be categorized as science for lay audiences. His book Weird Life: the search for life that is very, very different from our own (W.W. Norton, 2013) was longlisted for the 2014 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, shortlisted for Physics World Book of the Year for 2013, and named an “Editor’s Choice” by the New York Times Sunday Book Review. It appeared in Spanish translation from Biblioteca Buridán in 2015 and Japanese translation from Hakuyosha Publishing in 2016. His book The New Time Travelers: a journey to the frontiers of physics (W.W. Norton, 2007) was among ten nonfiction books named “new and notable” by Scientific American in 2007, and listed among the “Best Sci-Tech Books 2007” by Library Journal. It appeared in Spanish translation from Biblioteca Buridán in 2008. Other books are Stormchasers: the Hurricane Hunters and their Flight into Hurricane Janet (W.W. Norton, 2002), Amelia Earhart's Daughters: the Wild and Glorious Story of American Women Aviators from World War II to the Dawn of the Space Age, co-author with Leslie Haynsworth (William Morrow, 1998), and Scientific and Technical Communication in Theory, Practice and Policy, second author with James Collier (Sage, 1996).

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The Efficiency Paradox:  What Big Data Can't Do
Tuesday, May 15
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,

This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed writer, speaker, and scholar EDWARD TENNER for a discussion of his latest book, The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do.

About The Efficiency Paradox
Algorithms, multitasking, the sharing economy, life hacks: our culture can't get enough of efficiency. One of the great promises of the Internet and big data revolutions is the idea that we can improve the processes and routines of our work and personal lives to get more done in less time than we ever have before. There is no doubt that we're performing at higher levels and moving at unprecedented speed, but what if we're headed in the wrong direction?

Melding the long-term history of technology with the latest headlines and findings of computer science and social science, The Efficiency Paradox questions our ingrained assumptions about efficiency, persuasively showing how relying on the algorithms of digital platforms can in fact lead to wasted efforts, missed opportunities, and above all an inability to break out of established patterns. Edward Tenner offers a smarter way of thinking about efficiency, revealing what we and our institutions, when equipped with an astute combination of artificial intelligence and trained intuition, can learn from the random and unexpected.

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Science for the People Meeting
Tuesday, May 15
7:00-9:00 p.m.
MIT, Building 1-150, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Science for the People (SftP) is an organization of leftist scientists that was active in the 1960s-1980s and is getting revitalized by a younger generation of scientist-activists.  It has several chapters around the country.  We would like to invite you to a meeting of the Boston-area chapter, which will happen on .  Building 1 is on the northeast side of Mass Ave. near Memorial Drive.

The agenda is below:
1. Short introduction to SftP, national working groups, and the Boston chapter
2. Self-introductions, including mention of issues you are most concerned about/would most like to work on
3. Presentation by and discussion with early SftP member Jonathan Beckwith on biological determinism, how SftP exposed and confronted it in the past, and its persistence today (45 min.)
4. Wrap-up, next steps, next meeting

Looking forward to meeting, discussing, and taking action with you,
in solidarity,
Ilias, for Boston SftP

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We're In This Together: Battling for Clean Energy and Fighting Fracking from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts
Tuesday, May 15
7pm - 9pm
First Church Unitarian Universalist, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain

On Tuesday, May 15th, you are invited to an evening with community leaders from the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania—the other end of the fracked gas pipelines that connect to us here Massachusetts. 

Families, landowners, and whole communities there have been deeply impacted by intensive development of fracking wells and facilities.  Their struggle connects directly with our use of fossil fuels in the Northeast. 

Pennsylvania activists sharing their powerful stories will include Lois Bjornson, Cathy Lodge, Brian and Ryan Latkanich, and Jane Worthington.

Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged to contribute to building-use fees and JP Forum expenses.

Wheelchair accessible. Co-sponsored by Clean Water Action, Mothers Out Front, the Mass Power Forward coalition, Resist the Pipeline, Jamaica Plain Forum, Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, Boston Clean Energy Coalition, Massachusetts Sierra Club

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The List:  A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year
Tuesday, May 15
7:30 PM (Doors at 6:30)
Alley Cambridge, 10 Ware Street, Cambridge,
Cost:  $5 - $28.75 (online only, book included) 

Harvard Book Store welcomes AMY SISKIND—spokesperson, writer, and president and co-founder of The New Agenda—for a discussion of her new book The List:  A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year. She will be joined in conversation by historian and Boston College professor HEATHER COX RICHARDSON.

About The List
In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump's election as president, Amy Siskind, a former Wall Street executive and the founder of The New Agenda, began compiling a list of actions taken by the Trump regime that pose a threat to our democratic norms. Under the headline “Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember,” Siskind's “Weekly List” began as a project she shared with friends, but it soon went viral and now has more than half a million viewers every week.

Compiled in one volume for the first time, The List is a first-draft history and a comprehensive account of Donald Trump's first year. Beginning with Trump's acceptance of white supremacists the week after the election and concluding a year later, we watch as Trump and his regime chip away at the rights and protections of marginalized communities, women, and us all—via Twitter storms, unchecked executive action, and shifting rules and standards. The List chronicles not only the scandals that made headlines but also the myriad unprecedented acts that otherwise fall through the cracks.

For everyone hoping to #resistTrump, The List is a must-have guide to what we've lost as a country in the wake of Trump's election.

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PLAYsentations: Student Toy Designs
Tuesday, May 15
7:30pm
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The students and staff of MIT's 2.00b Toy Product Design invite you to the final PLAYsentations on Tuesday, May 15th at 7:30pm in 10-250.

Sixteen energetic teams have been busy creating new toy products — inspired by the theme of “dream”. Toys include cloud bumpers, a kid-powered row boat, a 'lightning'-fast reflex game, and so much more! Original skits will convey each toy prototype and its play experience.  

After the show, there will be a cookies-and-milk reception in Lobby 10 and an opportunity to interact with students and toys.

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Wednesday, May 16
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Climate Adaptation and the Commonwealth’s Transportation Infrastructure:  Informing Current Practice/Planning for the Future
Wednesday, May 16
8 AM – 11:50 AM
Harvard, Nye ABC Conference Room, 5th Floor, Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Please join the Rappaport Institute as it presents a conference on the role that climate adaptation will play in the planning for our future transportation infrastructure. We will hear from a panel of experts on the topic who will share approaches from other regions then learn more about how resiliency in the face of extreme weather will challenge our region and how planners will respond. 

This is an event for transportation advocates and climate adaptation practitioners, as well as anyone involved in infrastructure planning, design and delivery. 

Rappaport is pleased to welcome our presenters to this event and we hope you will be able to join us. 
Guests include:
Peter Adams, Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency (invited)
Chris Busch, Sr. Waterfront Planner III, Department of Climate Change & Environmental Planning, Boston Planning and Development Authority
Julia Gold, RIDOT Chief of Sustainability, Autonomous Vehicles, and Innovation
Steve Kadish, Chair, Governor’s Commission on the Future of Transportation
Rawlings Miller, Infrastructure Resilience/Senior Scientist, Technical Center for Policy, Planning & Environment, Volpe Center, U.S. Department of Transportation
Steven J. Miller, Supervisor, Environmental Management and Sustainability
Samantha Silverberg, Senior Director, Capital Planning, MBTA
Jennifer Sullivan, Assistant Secretary for Capital Finance, Executive Office for Administration and Finance, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Monica Tibbetts-Nutt, Executive Director, 128 Business Council; Director, MassDOT Board of Directors; Director, MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board
Steve Poftak, Executive Director, Rappaport Institute; Director, MassDOT Board of Directors; Vice Chair, MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board

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"Machine Learning and Data Science in Politics" Poster Session
Wednesday, May 16
9:30am to 11:00am
MIT, Building E51-095, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Undergraduate students who are currently taking 17.835 ("Machine Learning and Data Science in Politics") will be presenting their group projects. There are going to be 15 group projects in total.

Students have very diverse backgrounds majoring in different subjects (Course numbers of the students in the class include 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 24). They have worked hard to study politics throughout the semester, collecting their own data and analyzing them. Please stop by and share your thoughts on their projects as many of them are excited to learn more about political science research! 

Please contact Professor In Song Kim for their abstracts.

Snacks will be provided!

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Rally and Lobby for Solar
Wednesday, May 16
10am
MA State House Steps, Boston

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LANDLINE VISION PLAN:  MAPC's 1,400 mile Metro Boston Trail and Greenway Plan
Wednesday, May 16
10AM - 12PM
Entrance to the Malden River, 146 Canal Street, Malden (1/3 mile south of the Malden MBTA Station)

WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US FOR THE UNVEILING AND CELEBRATION RIDE!
Join us, the City of Malden, and our partners to celebrate the unveiling of MAPC's Landline Trail and Greenway Plan that connects 1,400 miles of trails and greenways throughout the Boston Region!

Special guests Mayor Christenson and other elected officials will be making remarks, followed by a 5 to 9 mile ride to Chelsea and Revere.

We will ride along four amazing community trails, two opened in the past month! Malden Riverwalk, the Northern Strand Trail, Chelsea Greenway, and the East Boston Greenway. The ride will highlight why we need to connect each up into a continuous greenway. We'll stop along the ride in Everett and in Chelsea for updates on trail and economic development plans by Mayor DeMaria (invited) and by City Manager Ambrosino. 

We'll finish the ride at Revere Beach by the Blue Line Station.

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Prather Scientific Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on the CRISPR-Cas Toolbox for Genome Editing
WHEN  Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Science Center Hall B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology & Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology
SPEAKER(S)  Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley, HHMI
DETAILS  The CRISPR-Cas Toolbox for Genome Editing
Genome editing with CRISPR technology is transforming biology. CRISPR-Cas9, an RNA-guided enzyme with remarkable abilities to recognize and cleave DNA, operates by mechanisms that both explain its biological function and provide insights into technology development. I will discuss research into this amazing family of proteins: where they came from, how they work and how Cas9-based technologies are revolutionizing research, biomedicine and agriculture.

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Crypto Crumple Zones: Enabling Limited Access Without Mass Surveillance
Wednesday, May 16
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
BU, School of Law (Room 203), 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

Mayank Varia, Research Scientist and Co-Director of BU's Center for Reliable Information Systems and Cyber Security, will be giving a talk about data privacy and surveillance as part of the ongoing Cyber Alliance speaker series. Please RSVP to tgabs@bu.edu.


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Guiding principles for peptide-based, life-like nanotechnology
Wednesday, May 16
3:30pm to 4:45pm 3:00 PM REFRESHMENTS
MIT, Building 66-110 25 Ames Street, Cambridge

Prof. Rein Ulijn (CUNY Advanced Science Research Center) 

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Thesis Defence:  Protecting User Data in Large-Scale Web Services
Wednesday, May 16
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
MIT, Building 32-G882, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Abstract:  Web services like Google, Facebook, and Dropbox are now an essential part of people’s lives. In order to provide value to users, these services collect, store, and analyze large amounts of their users’ sensitive data. However, once the user provides her information to the web service, she loses control over how the application manipulates that data. For example, a user cannot control where the application forwards her data. Even if the service wanted to allow users to define access controls, it is unclear how these access controls should be expressed and enforced. Not only is it difficult to develop these secure access control mechanisms, but it is also difficult to ensure these mechanisms are practical. My research addresses these concerns. More specifically, it focuses on building practical, secure mechanisms for protecting user data in large-scale, distributed web services.

Bio:  Frank Wang is a Ph.D. student at the MIT CSAIL, advised by Nickolai Zeldovich and James Mickens. He completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, focusing on applied cryptography. He runs the MIT security seminar and co-founded a summer program for early stage security companies called Cybersecurity Factory. 

Committee:  Nickolai Zeldovich, James Mickens, Vinod Vaikuntanathan

Contact: Frank Wang, frankw@csail.mit.edu

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The genome of the Last Common Ancestor: il catalogo è questo
Wednesday, May 16
4:00pm to 5:30pm
Harvard, Haller Hall, Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Professor Antonio Lazcano (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
Abstract: Two decades ago Fox and Woese demonstrated that the evolutionary comparison of 16/18S rRNA led to a trifucated unrooted tree that demonstrated that all living forms groups all living forms in one of three major phylogenetic lineages derived from a common ancestor. Bioinformatic analysis of completely sequenced cellular genomes from these three major kingdoms have been used to define the set of the most most conserved protein-encoding sequences to characterize the gene complement of of last common ancestor, or LUCA. Universal gene-based phylogenies ultimately reach a single universal ancestor, but it is now generally accepted that the term LUCA actually refers to an ancestral population. Attempts to reconstruct the LUCA gene complement are statistical approximations of biological past hindered by ancient horizontal gene transfer events, paralogous duplications and polyphyletic gene losses, as well as by biases in genome databases and methodological artifacts. A significant percentage of the highly conserved genes that may have been part of LUCA’s genome are sequences involved in the synthesis, degradation, and binding of RNA, including transcription and translation. Although the gene complement of LUCA includes sequences that may have originated in different epochs, the extraordinary conservation of RNA-related sequences supports the hypothesis that the last common ancestor was an evolutionary outcome of an earlier evolutionary stage during which RNA molecules and ribonucleotides played more conspicuous roles in genetic and metabolic processes.

Origins of Life Initiative / Microbial Sciences Initiative Joint Seminar

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MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2018
Wednesday, May 16
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, 400 Technology Square, Cambridge
Cost:  $25 Members; $45 Non-Members: $10 Students; $5 Student Members 
(In-Auditorium or Live Stream)

Which of today’s emerging technologies have a chance of solving a big problem and opening up new opportunities?

Join us as David Rotman, Editor, MIT Technology Review Magazine, walks us through their picks for the ’10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2018′ which includes dueling neural networks, artificial embryos and AI in the cloud.

3-D Metal Printing
Breakthrough > Now printers can make metal objects quickly and cheaply.
Artificial Embryos
Breakthrough > Without using eggs or sperm cells, researchers have made embryo-like structures from stem cells alone, providing a whole new route to creating life.
Sensing City
Breakthrough > A Toronto neighborhood aims to be the first place to successfully integrate cutting-edge urban design with state-of-the-art digital technology.
AI for Everybody
Breakthrough > Cloud-based AI is making the technology cheaper and easier to use.
Dueling Neural Networks
Breakthrough > Two AI systems can spar with each other to create ultra-realistic original images or sounds, something machines have never been able to do before.
Babel-Fish Earbuds
Breakthrough > Near-real-time translation now works for a large number of languages and is easy to use.
Zero-Carbon Natural Gas
Breakthrough > A power plant efficiently and cheaply captures carbon released by burning natural gas, avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions.
Perfect Online Privacy
Breakthrough > Computer scientists are perfecting a cryptographic tool for proving something without revealing the information underlying the proof.
Genetic Fortune Telling
Breakthrough > Scientists can now use your genome to predict your chances of getting heart disease or breast cancer, and even your IQ.
Materials' Quantum Leap
Breakthrough > IBM has simulated the electronic structure of a small molecule, using a seven-qubit quantum computer.

Event Schedule
Registration & Networking: 5:30 PM
Program: 6:00 PM
Cocktails & Light Refreshments: 6:45 -8:00 PM

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New Frontiers in Energy Blockchain Applications
Wednesday, May 16
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
WeWork Mass Avenue, 625 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

The energy industry is buzzing about the potential for blockchain technology to revolutionize grid efficiency. An early wave of ICOs has shown great promise: startups like PowerLedger, LO3, and Grid+ have already raised tens of millions in funds to date. However, there are many aspects of blockchain technology, peer-to-peer energy transaction, and the future of digital currencies that remain unclear even to the initiated. Power2Peer has gathered a panel of experts in the field to provide insight and information on this new and exciting trend in renewable energy.

Moderator:  Dr. Nish Sonwalkar (ScD., MIT), Founder, President and CEO, Power2Peer
An inventor and entrepreneur, Dr. Nish Sonwalkar has over 25 years of experience in the development of innovative technologies. With Power2Peer he is developing a system for decentralized power delivery using blockchain-enabled adaptive controls for solar microgrids. Over the course of his career he has specialized in renewable energy technologies related to solar thermal applications, open cycle ocean thermal energy conversion (OC-OTEC) evaporators, and molecular dynamics of energy materials and nano-interfaces, such as Si and copper interfaces and optical coatings. As the former Principal Research Scientist and faculty at MIT, he developed the combined molecular dynamics (MD) and laser Raman spectroscopy methodology for the design of new material interfaces. His most recent invention is a method for increasing the efficiency of solar panels by over 20%.

Panelists:
Alistair Pim, Vice President, Innovation and Partnerships, NECEC
Alistair Pim is Vice President, Innovation and Partnerships for Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC), a non-profit dedicated to making the Northeast the best place to start and grow a cleantech business. He and his
team are responsible for the Cleantech Open accelerator in the northeast, Cleantech Navigate and the Strategic Partner network programs. Alistair serves on the cleantech committee for the MIT Enterprise Forum, served on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of ASAP (Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals), and is a CSAP (Certified Strategic Alliance Professional). He holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management (UK) and a BS in Engineering Science from the University of Exeter (UK).
Amitesh Singh, Technology Leader and Architect, Schneider-Electric, Inc.
Amitesh has over 17 years of expertise leading, developing and launching world class products and services in Control Automation, IoT, Analytics and Manufacturing Intelligence. He is exploring the use of blockchain technology for secure control systems for the power industry. With passion and proven leadership in technology and energy sectors, Amitesh has developed and deployed state of the art automation and intelligence systems for several leading energy companies like EnBW, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Saudi Aramco. He has led the development of almost two dozen cutting edge products that run plants generating over 40% of world energy over 17 years of his career. Currently, he heads the development of a leading distributed control system for a Fortune 500 company. With an MBA from MIT Sloan and an Engineering degree from IIT, he brings business objectivity to contemporary innovation.
Chris Taylor, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Consilience Systems, Inc.
Born in Chicago, with deep and growing Boston roots, Chris has been working with communities of developers, entrepreneurs, and investors on the frontiers of next generation protocols. Having ridden the mobile wave from Silicon Valley to NYC, and now the next generation of internet pioneers, he has led teams inside large corporations, start-ups, and open-source communities. Whether it’s launching campaigns at MIT, building communities of developers, or hosting gatherings of technologists, artists, philosophers, and scientists, Chris is on a mission to stay close to that which shapes our world.

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Massachusetts General Postdoc Association HAPPY HOUR
Wednesday, May 16
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
The Kinsale Irish Pub & Restaurant, 2 Center Plaza, Boston

Massachusetts General Postdoc Association HAPPY HOUR is back! 
Please join the MGPA for a fun night of networking at The Kinsale Irish Pub & Restaurant! Meet your fellow MGH postdocs over complimentary snacks and appetizers and/or feel free to indulge in your favorite adult beverage from the cash bar. 
Feel free to bring your friends, business cards and come make some new friends and contacts!

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Climate Fixes? Look to Nature!  A benefit party, auction, beer-tasting, fundraiser and fun! for Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Wednesday, May 16
6-9 p.m. 
Dorchester Brewing Company, 1250 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston
Cost:  $10 - $250

A collaboration with our partners Greater Boston Trout Unlimited, Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition, Neponset Watershed Association and The Dorchester Brewing Company

Joys of cold water and cold beer (you get to drink)!
Excitement of a bargain auction!
Brilliant speakers!
The noble company of fish spirits and their humans!
Great chatty people to chat with!
Land management miracles with casts of thousands!
Most worthy non-profits you will be thrilled to support!

This event is about trout and cold-water fishing, and the impacts of climate.  Can we save the trout? Can we rescue the climate?

The headwaters of the Neponset River contain small isolated populations of cold-water-loving brook trout that have been hanging on for their dear lives for centuries. What can we learn from our local partners about what we might do to help bring back these isolated populations?

One of the most important ways to save trout and rivers and their wonderful biodiverse habitats is to reverse global warming through eco-restoration. And the health of the trout and the rivers and the watershed habitats is one critical path to cooling the biosphere, stopping floods and droughts, and addressing the climate.

Speakers
Beth Lambert, Executive Director of the Mass Division of Ecological Restoration, will tell of their efforts to restore habitat and increase bioldiversity and trout fishing in local waterways. Dr. Ben Letcher, of the USGS Conte Fish Labs in Turners Falls, will explain what brook trout need in the face of changes in the climate. Chris Hirsch, Ecologist with the Neponset River Watershed Association, will tell us about efforts to restore habitat on the Neponset River and about the trout that live there. Finally, Jim Laurie and Adam Sacks of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate will relate the dramatic positive effects that eco-restoration can have on repairing habitats and reversing the mounting disasters of global warming.

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The Mechanical Side of Artificial Intelligence
Wednesday, May 16
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge

with Robert Wood
Artificial Intelligence typically focuses on perception, learning, and control methods to enable autonomous robots to make and act on decisions in real environments. On the contrary, our research is focused on the design, mechanics, materials, and manufacturing of novel robot platforms that make the perception, control, or action easier or more robust for natural, unstructured, and often unpredictable environments. Key principles in this pursuit include bioinspired designs, smart materials for novel sensors and actuators, and the development of multi-scale, multi-material manufacturing methods. This talk will illustrate this philosophy by highlighting the creation of two unique classes of robots: soft-bodied autonomous robots and highly agile aerial and terrestrial robotic insects. 

Robert Wood is the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, a founding core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and a National Geographic Explorer. Prof. Wood completed his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the winner of multiple awards for his work including the DARPA Young Faculty Award, NSF Career Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, Air Force Young Investigator Award, Technology Review's TR35, and multiple best paper awards. In 2010 Wood received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama for his work in microrobotics. In 2012 he was selected for the Alan T. Waterman award, the National Science Foundation's most prestigious early career award. In 2014 he was named one of National Geographic's "Emerging Explorers". Wood's group is also dedicated to STEM education by using novel robots to motivate young students to pursue careers in science and engineering.

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Future of Listening: Data and Music
Wednesday, 16 May
6:30 – 8:30 pm EDT
GA Boston, 125 Summer Street 13th Floor, Boston

Everyday, we enjoy innovation in music through personalised playlists, streaming and live videos accessible at the tap of a screen, and it has all been driven by an unlikely friend - data.

Join us as we explore the intersection of big data with the music industry in a race to the future of musical entertainment. We’ll be featuring speakers from the music industry who have mastered the art of using data and technology to deliver an exciting and unique experience of music en masse.
We'll learn more about:
The science behind data-driven music services
The challenge posed by big data to the traditional music industry
How data is empowering artists as well as listeners
Where data is taking the future of music

By signing up for this event, you’re giving our partners and sponsors for this event permission to contact you about upcoming events and promotions.

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How to Change Your Mind:  What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
Wednesday, May 16
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost:  $5 - $28.75 (book included) - On Sale Now

Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned writer MICHAEL POLLAN—author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food—for a discussion of his latest book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. He will be joined in conversation by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist RON SUSKIND.

About How to Change Your Mind
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into the experience of various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s when a handful of psychedelic evangelists catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research.

A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both struggle and beauty, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.

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From Cold War to Hot Peace:  An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia
Wednesday, May 16
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenud, Cambridge

This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed Russian scholar and Stanford professor MICHAEL MCFAUL for a discussion of his latest book, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.

About From Cold War to Hot Peace
In 2008, when Michael McFaul was asked to leave his perch at Stanford and join an unlikely presidential campaign, he had no idea that he would find himself at the beating heart of one of today’s most contentious and consequential international relationships. As President Barack Obama’s adviser on Russian affairs, McFaul helped craft the United States’ policy known as “reset” that fostered new and unprecedented collaboration between the two countries. And then, as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, he had a front-row seat when this fleeting, hopeful moment crumbled with Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. This riveting inside account combines history and memoir to tell the full story of U.S.-Russia relations from the fall of the Soviet Union to the new rise of the hostile, paranoid Russian president. From the first days of McFaul’s ambassadorship, the Kremlin actively sought to discredit and undermine him, hassling him with tactics that included dispatching protesters to his front gates, slandering him on state media, and tightly surveilling him, his staff, and his family.

From Cold War to Hot Peace is an essential account of the most consequential global confrontation of our time.

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Into the Raging Sea
Wednesday May 16
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline 

A richly reported account of the worst American shipping disaster in thirty-five years that takes us into the heart of an age-old industry, casting new light on the hardworking men and women who paid the ultimate price in the name of profit.

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Terrascope Radio Broadcast
Wednesday, May 16
7:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building 16-168, Terrascope Room, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge

Listen to the premier of this year's Terrascope Radio broadcast on WMBR 88.1FM. Listen online at http://wmbr.org/ or join us for a celebratory ice cream social in the Terrascope Room (16-168)!

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Better Internet for All: The Public Internet Option presented by the ACLU
WHEN  Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE  MIT Stata Center (Room 32-123), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Upgrade Cambridge and the ACLU of Massachusetts
SPEAKER(S)  Jay Stanley, ACLU
Kade Crockford, ACLU of Massachusetts
Christopher Schmidt, Upgrade Cambridge
COST  Free
DETAILS  Join Jay Stanley in a discussion on The Public Internet Option, an ACLU report detailing how local governments can provide network neutrality, privacy, and access for all.
Jay is a senior policy analyst at the ACLU and the principal author of the Public Internet Option report, which details how public-owned networks can help protect crucial freedoms while ensuring affordable, reliable service. With FCC rollbacks of net neutrality and privacy regulations, growing incumbent telecom monopoly power, and a growing digital divide, it is more important than ever to ensure a better internet for all, and the most effective way to do so is through municipal broadband.
In Cambridge, our digital access comes almost exclusively from a single monopoly incumbent provider. Municipal broadband could provide an alternative to the monopoly provider. We could use a citywide network to correct our digital equity problems in the city, while protecting net neutrality and consumer privacy for those who used it.

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Much Ado About Mumps: Using Genomics to Track Virus Outbreaks in Massachusetts & Beyond
Wednesday, May 16
7pm - 9pm
Harvard, Pfizer Hall, Mallinckrodt Chemistry Labs, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge


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Resistance Mic! at Oberon
WHEN  Wednesday, May 16, 2018, 8 – 10 p.m.
WHERE  Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Comedy, Concerts, Humanities, Law, Music, Poetry/Prose, Special Events, Support/Social, Theater
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Pangyrus Literary Mag,
SPEAKER(S)  Ethan Gilsdorf is a nerd who writes a lot. He wrote the travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms, which was named a Must-Read Book by the Massachusetts Book Awards. His work has also been cited in the anthology Best American Essays 2016. His articles, commentaries, essays and film and book reviews, and poems have appeared in the New York Times, New York Times Book Review, Salon, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Esquire, National Geographic, and Boston Globe. Gilsdorf is the cofounder of GrubStreet’s Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP) and serves on GrubStreet's board. Read more at ethangilsdorf.com.
E. Dolores Johnson’s writing on race has appeared or is forthcoming in The Buffalo News, the Writers of Color Anthology, Narratively and Lunch Ticket. Her multigenerational memoir in progress about mixed race life takes the reader on the journey of the browning of America and changing attitudes about race-mixing. She is looking for a publisher. Johnson completed the Memoir Incubator program at Grub Street and studied creative writing at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. She has been awarded residencies at Djerassi, Blue Mountain Center, Ragdale, and the VCCA. She has consulted on diversity for think tanks, universities, major corporations and nonprofits. Johnson holds a Harvard MBA and a Howard University BA. Follow her on twitter@ elladolo and FB at Dolores Johnson.
Timothy Patrick McCarthy (@DrTPM) is an award-winning scholar, educator, and activist who teaches at Harvard University, where he is Core Faculty and Director of Culture Change and Social Justice Initiatives at the Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. He is author or editor of five books from the New Press, including Stonewall's Children: Living Queer History in the Age of Liberation, Loss, and Love, forthcoming in 2019. He is the host and director of the "A.R.T. of Human Rights" series. Find him at www.hks.harvard.edu…
Robert Pinsky is a poet, essayist, translator, teacher, and speaker. His first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism—and such national enthusiasm in response—that the Library of Congress appointed him to an unprecedented third term. Throughout his career, Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world. Known worldwide, Pinsky’s work has earned him the PEN/Voelcker Award, the William Carlos Williams Prize, the Lenore Marshall Prize, Italy’s Premio Capri, the Korean Manhae Award, and the Harold Washington Award from the City of Chicago, among other accolades.
Stan Strickland is a vocalist, saxophonist, and flutist. He is the leader of the Stan Strickland & Ascension and the Stan Strickland Trio, and has performed with the Boston Pops, Take Six, Herbie Mann, Marlena Shaw, Pharaoh Sanders, Danilo Perez, and Yusef Lateef. He is a professor at the Berklee College of Music.
Shuchi Saraswat's photographs and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Ecotone, Tin House online, Women’s Review of Books, and Quick Fiction. Her essay "The Journey Home" received a special mention in Pushcart XLII 2018 and will be anthologized in Trespass: Ecotone Essayists Beyond the Boundaries of Place, Identity, and Feminism, published by Lookout Books in Fall 2018. Excerpts of her novel have won her the Gulliver Travel Research Grant from The Speculative Literature Foundation and fellowships and scholarships to Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Writers Omi at Ledig House, The Writers' Room of Boston, Tin House Summer Writers' Workshop and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She is Curator of The Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith, an independent bookstore in Boston, and is the Advocacy Coordinator at GrubStreet.
The True Colors Troupe (part of Theatre Offensive) is a theater program for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning youth and their straight allies, ages 14-22. All Troupe plays are written and produced by youth with the guidance of experienced teaching artists and activists.
Artistic Noise exists to bring the freedom and power of artistic practice to young people who are incarcerated, on probation, or otherwise involved in the justice system. Through visual arts and entrepreneurship programs in Massachusetts and New York, our participants give voice to their experiences, build community through collaborative projects, and learn valuable life and job skills. Artistic Noise creates safe spaces where court-involved youth can be seen, heard and supported on their path to adulthood. We believe the practice of making art offers opportunities for young people and communities to transform.
COST $5-25
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.

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Thursday, May 17
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Emerging Trends Series: Microgrids - A Model for Innovative Partnerships
Thursday, May 17
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Veolia North America, 53 State Street, 12th Floor, Boston
Cost:  $0 – $50

Cities, towns, communities, major institutions and other customers are exploring microgrids as a way to meet their critical electricity needs, ensure resilience and manage costs. Microgrid capabilities are also increasingly being used to respond to the challenges of more frequent disruptive storms and manage peak demand in the near term, as well as being part of climate adaptation plans in the longer term. NECEC’s Emerging Trend Series: Microgrids - A Model for Innovative Partnerships will highlight new ways customers, utilities and third party providers are working together to successfully deploy microgrid solutions.
Please join the NECEC team and speakers from the clean energy industry, as well as policymakers and customers, to discuss how they are working to develop models for microgrids that include energy storage, distributed generation, demand response and energy efficiency to keep the lights on, reduce their carbon footprints and enhance resiliency.
Speakers:
Moderator: Janet Gail Besser, Executive Vice President, NECEC
Mike Byrnes, Senior Vice President, Veolia Solutions
Galen Nelson, Senior Director, MassCEC
Tim Hebert, COO and Executive Vice President, Energy New England
John Baker, Associate Vice Chancellor Facilities Management, UMass Medical School

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The Solidarity Economy: An Answer to Economic Inequity?
Thursday, May 17
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
The Lenny Zakim Fund c/o DLA Piper, 33 Arch Street, 26th Floor, Boston

May 17th, 10am-12pm, followed by an optional lunch and informal discussion and reflection from 12-12:45.
When registering, please select your ticket type based on whether you plan to attend ONLY the learning session or BOTH the learning session and the optional lunch. Lunch will be provided for those who register.
The Solidarity Economy: An answer to economic inequity? 
The Solidarity Economy offers funders, grassrootsorganizations, elected officials, and many other constituentsthe opportunity to explore alternative pathways towardeconomic equity. Join us for this unique opportunity to:

1. Learn from experts about the Solidarity Economy
2. Explore examples of how the Solidarity Economy functions inthe field
3. Understand how to align grantmaking strategies andinvestment / finance capital with the principles of the SolidarityEconomy

This session will be engaging and interactive, and is designedfor individuals both new to the concept and with deeperexperiences in this issue area. 

Presentation and facilitation by Aaron Tanaka, Director of the Center of Economic Democracy and Penn Loh, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master's in Public Policy Program at Tufts University.
Panelists include: 
Maria Jobin Leeds - Access Strategies Fund
Deborah Frieze – Boston Impact Initiative Fund
Lor Holmes - CERO (Cooperative Energy, Recycling, and Organics)
Nia Evans - Boston Ujima Project
Eliza Parad - DSNI / Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network

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Environment-Sustainability Lunch Seminar: Genetically Engineered Solutions to Environmental Nitrogen Paradoxes
Thursday, May 17
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 34-401 A, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Andrew Babbin, EAPS
Andrew Babbin is a marine biogeochemist, working on the nitrogen cycle, and especially on the processes that return fixed nitrogen in the ocean back to nitrogen gas. Bioavailable inorganic nitrogen limits the fertility of many environmental systems, from local lakes and rivers to coastal bays to much of the global ocean. Denitrification is a multi-step microbial pathway by which environmental bacteria naturally consume inorganic nitrogen. Learn more about this research seed grant topic.

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Prather Scientific Lecture: Jennifer Doudna on DNA integration and detection by CRISPR-Cas RNA-guided proteins
WHEN  Wednesday, May 17, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Science Center Hall B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology & Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology
SPEAKER(S)  Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley, HHMI
DETAILS  The CRISPR-Cas Toolbox for Genome Editing
Genome editing with CRISPR technology is transforming biology. CRISPR-Cas9, an RNA-guided enzyme with remarkable abilities to recognize and cleave DNA, operates by mechanisms that both explain its biological function and provide insights into technology development. I will discuss research into this amazing family of proteins: where they came from, how they work and how Cas9-based technologies are revolutionizing research, biomedicine and agriculture.

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Public Funding for Cleantech Startups
Thursday, May 17
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Online (Webinar)

Though VC and private equity invesment in cleantech have increased in recent years for late-stage companies, private sources of funding for early-stage companies remain difficult to come by. To bridge this funding gap, cleantech startups should consider public sources of investment. Public non-dilutive capital at the state level represents a growing source of funding for entrepreneurs. This webinar will explore existing grant programs at the federal and state levels, as well as other public sources such as universities.

Event Contact:  kherb@nececinstitute.org

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Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data
Thursday, May 17
1:30pm — 3:00pm
MIT Media Lab, E15 - Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Mariel Borowitz
Understanding and addressing environmental challenges, including climate change, requires access to accurate data from many sources. In some cases, government agencies that operate Earth-observing satellites have been leaders in this regard - making their data freely available to all users. In fact, some of the earliest references to "open data" can be traced back to early government satellite projects. However, many governments continue to restrict access to their unclassified Earth-observing satellite data, and even those that now make their data freely available did not always do so. Open Data: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data examines how government agencies developed data sharing policies for their Earth observation satellites and how these data sharing policies changed over time.

Mariel Borowitz is an Assistant Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. Her research deals with international space policy issues, primarily international cooperation in Earth-observing satellites, and satellite data sharing policies. She also looks at international trends in commercial remote sensing and civil-military interactions in remote sensing technology and data. Her research interests extend to human space exploration strategy and developments in space security and space situational awareness. Dr. Borowitz earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy at the University of Maryland and a Masters degree in International Science and Technology Policy from the George Washington University. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also earned a minor in Applied International Studies. Dr. Borowitz is currently on detail at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC through Fall 2018.

Event Contact:  Andrea Porras
(617) 253-1631

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Democratic Gubernatorial Debate
Thursday, May 17
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
100 William T Morrissey Boulevard, Campus Center Ballroom B and C, Dorchester

BE SEATED BY 2:45 P.M. 
THIS WILL BE A LIVE RADIO BROADCAST.
University of Massachusetts Boston McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, WBUR radio, and TheBoston Globe, will host live debates with the Democratic candidates running for governor this year.
Radio Boston host Meghna Chakrabarti, will be joined by co-moderator Shira T. Center, political editor from The Boston Globe. The conversations will be conducted before a live audience at UMass Boston, and live-streamed on bostonglobe.com, wbur.org, and umb.edu.

The debate is intended as a kick-off to the campaign season, introducing the leading Democratic candidates for governor.

Because the conversations are taking place as part of WBUR’s Radio Boston program, from 3 to 4 p.m., the live audience must be in their seats in the Campus Center Ballrooms B and C, by 2:45 p.m. The doors open at 2:15p.m. and close at 2:45p.m. The conversations are free and open to the public, but registration will be required. 

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:  Audience Q & A, submit questions: #MAGOVDEBATE

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Unpacking the Backpack: The Resiliency of Trauma & Race 
Thursday, May 17
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, 2300 Washington Street, Boston

As part of the National Mental Health campaign month, CPLAN in partnership with Vital Village and Boston Public Schools (BPS) will co-host an interactive mind body and soul expo offering activities and meaningful discussions for educators, providers, youth, parents, and families to unpack the impact of trauma. 

The event will kick off with a soul nourishing meal, followed by a panel discussion featuring parents and mental health professionals to explore how mental health stigma, lack of resources and access to wellness opportunities impacts our ability to lead healthy lives.

We'll unwind after the panel with interactive and artistic expressions breakout sessions (such as music, art, dance, and poetry) led by local community vendors to help foster personal healing through various forms of expressions.
The demos & interactive activities hope to provide highly interactive, wellness-focused activities including art therapy, dance distressed, meditation, urban farming, yoga heathy food prep, and programming to activate your mind body and soul.
Dinner and childcare provided.


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FAIL! - The moments we generally don't share
Thu, May 17
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
MIT, Building 26-100, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

What lessons are hidden behind failures? Are you the only one in thinking you are not good enough? Facing repeated failures, how do we keep going?

Come to FAIL! to explore these questions!

FAIL! is a celebration of the moments we generally don't share. Failure can rsdayhappen to anyone, anywhere, and can even be a key to success.

The inaugural FAIL! night will be held at MIT on May 17, 2018, 6 pm and will feature speakers from across the Institute and the Boston area.

The FAIL! night is free, but RSVP to the event throughout this eventbride event. Your reservation will be held until 5:45, after that moment, people without reservation can also get in. A reception will follow.

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WeWork Celebrating Diversity
Thursday, May 17
6:00PM - 8:00PM
WeWork South Station, 8th floor, 745 Atlantic Avenue, Boston

Alexis Miller, WeWork, Moderator
Felicia Jadczak, She Geeks Out
David Delmar, Resilient Coders
Nicole Gilmore, New England Venture Capital Association

Join us for an evening celebrating diversity in the City of Boston! We’ll be hosting a panel discussion with leaders who are moving the needle on diversity issues within their own companies and industries. Come and take away some key learnings, network, and enjoy cocktails and h'dourves. 

6:00-6:30pm  Networking
6:30-7:30pm  Panel 
7:30-8:00pm  Networking

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Seal Studies: What Aquarium Scientists Are Learning About Disease, Physiology, and Population Dynamics to Help Protect Seals
Thursday, May 17
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Simons IMAX Theatre New England Aquarium, Museum Wharf, Boston

Pinnipeds are a diverse group of marine mammals that engender curiosity and fascination. The New England Aquarium has been working with, studying, and rescuing seals for years. This evening’s lecture gives you a closer look at the work being done to better understand the seals here at the Aquarium as well as their wild counterparts.

Patty Schilling, Marine Mammal Supervisor, New England Aquarium, has been a marine mammal trainer at New England Aquarium for thirteen years. She provides care, training, and enrichment for the Aquarium’s collection of marine mammals, including the northern fur seals. As part of her job, she has also had the opportunity to participate in NOAA Fisheries’ biennial northern fur seal population counts in St Paul Island, Alaska. Patty will share information about these experiences including the current population status of the northern fur seal

Katherine Graham, M.S., Assistant Scientist, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, is developing methods to study the complex reproductive physiology of northern fur seals using non-invasive fecal hormone analysis. This collaborative project aims to better understand reproductive patterns of seals in aquariums, including those at the Aquarium, with potential future application of these techniques to study wild populations of northern fur seals.

The Aquarium’s Rescue and Rehabilitation Department is responsible for responding to reports of live and dead marine mammals from Salem, MA, south through Plymouth, MA. Katie Pugliares-Bonner, M.S., Senior Biologist – Necropsy Specialist, New England Aquarium Marine Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Department, will speak about her investigations into and the discovery of novel and emerging disease conditions found during necropsies (animal autopsies) of local stranded pinnipeds as well as the collective efforts of the rescue team.

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When Einstein Walked with Gödel:  Excursions to the Edge of Thought
Thursday, May 17
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Harvard Book Store welcomes JIM HOLT—bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?—for a discussion of his latest book, When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought.

About When Einstein Walked with Gödel
Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction―and whether the universe truly has a future.

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Von Neumann and the Origin of Life
Thursday, May 17
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 32-G449, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Hyman Hartman
We will outline a historical solution to the Origin of Life based on the Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code and the Origin and Evolution of Metabolism mediated by replicating Iron -Rich Clays. This is a historical reconstruction.

Biological research is in crisis, and in Alan Turing's work there is much to guide us. The most interesting connection with biology, in my view, is in Turing's most important paper: 'On computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem', published in 1936, when Turing was just 24. Computable numbers are defined as those whose decimals are calculable by finite means. Turing introduced what became known as the Turing machine to formalize the Origin of the digital computer.

Von Neumann's Kinematic Self Replicating Machines: Turing's ideas were carried further in the 1940s by mathematician and engineer John von Neumann, who conceived of a 'constructor' machine capable of assembling another according to a description. A universal constructor with its own description would build a machine like itself. To complete the task, the universal constructor needs to copy its description and insert the copy into the offspring machine. Von Neumann noted that if the copying machine made errors, these 'mutations' would provide inheritable changes in the progeny.

Sidney Brenner: Nature 482,461(23 February 2012)
The Body of the Talk: 1) Cellular Automata according to Von Neumann and Ulam. 2) Probabilistic Cellular Automata 3) Ising Model 4) Spin glasses 5) Computers and the Brain according to Von Neumann 6) Evolution and Machine Learning the Valient way

In summary: Life began as a spin Glass and evolved into the Universal Turing Machine/ Von Neumann constructor

Hyman Hartman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He received his B.Sc with honors In Biochemistry from McGill University (1957) and his PhD in Biochemistry from Columbia University (1964). He began his studies on the Origin of Life by publishing two pioneering papers in 1974 on the Evolution of the Genetic Code and the Origin and Evolution of Metabolism. These papers were based on the Clay theory for the Origin of Life. He edited a book with Graham Cairns-Smith entitled Clay Minerals and the Origin of Life.(1987). He was on the Grant Board for NASA Exobiology Division and he was a co-editor with Jim Lawless and Phil Morrison on the book Search for the Universal Ancestors published by NASA. He and Temple Smith (Boston University) have been studying the Bioinformatics of the Ribosomal Proteins and the Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases. These studies have allowed them to
reconstruct the Origin and Evolution of the Translational Apparatus and the Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code. He is also active with a group in the University of Kentucky and McGill University studying the De Novo synthesis of Clay as catalyzed by Amino acids and Dicarboxylic acids.

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Friday, May 18 - Sunday, May 20
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Nurse Hackathon 2018: Hacking the Opioid Crisis
Friday, May 18, 2018 - 6:00pm to Sunday, May 20, 2018 - 6:00pm
Northeastern University, Egan Research Center, Raytheon Ampitheater, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
Cost:  $25 – $129

The Nurse Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program of Northeastern University is excited to announce their partnership with StartupHealth and NEUSHA for the second annual Nurse Hackathon as a part of Startup Weekend.

On Friday from noon to 4pm, expert panelists will present on the latest research, digital health, policies and procedures related to the growing opioid epidemic in advance of this outstanding three-day event.

The Hackathon itself kicks off at 6:00pm on Friday, May 18th and concludes on Sunday May 20th at 6:00pm.

Innovate
Brainstorm, Conceptualize, Ideate!
Create
Create a prototype out of your concept!
Network
Work your way through the innovation process with the help of our network of mentors!
Go
Pitch your innovation to a panel of judges!

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Friday, May 18
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Final Doctoral Thesis Defense:   Low-Grade Heat Conversion into Electricity by Thermoelectric and Electrochemical Systems
Friday, May 18
10:30am to 11:30am
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Mr. Dongwook Lee on his final DMSE doctoral thesis defense

Thesis Committee:
Professor Yang Shao-Horn (Thesis Advisor)
Professor Jeffrey Grossman 
Professor Karen Gleason
Professor Silvija Gradečak

 *A draft copy of this thesis will be available for review in room 6-107.

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"Machine Learning and Data Science in Politics" Poster Session (Graduate)
Friday, May 18
10:30AM and 12:00PM 
MIT, Building E53-482, Millikan Room, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge

Graduate students who are currently taking 17.806 ("Quantitative Research Methods IV") will be presenting their projects. This is a venue where they present their research projects at an early stage in order to receive feedback. This year, we have 10 exciting posters!

Please contact Professor In Song Kim for their abstracts.

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Chernobyl:  The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe
Friday, May 18
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes Eastern Europe historian and Harvard professor SERHII PLOKHY for a discussion of his latest book, Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe. He will be joined in conversation by ALEXANDRA VACROUX, the Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.
About Chernobyl

On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill.

In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry, tracing the disaster to the authoritarian character of Communist party rule, the regime's control of scientific information, and its emphasis on economic development over all else.

Today, the risk of another Chernobyl looms in the mismanagement of nuclear power in the developing world. A moving and definitive account, Chernobyl is also an urgent call to action.

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Saturday, May 19
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Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival
Saturday, May 19
11:00am to 4:00pm
Franklin Park, Jamaica Plain

In 1969, the first Franklin Park Kite Festival was held, and became an annual tradition for decades to come. In 2010, the Franklin Park Coalition brought back the event, reimagined as the Kite & Bike Festival. Held every year on the Saturday after Mother’s Day, the festival brings out more than 1,000 people to fly kites, ride bikes, learn to ride a bike, and picnic. With food trucks, kids’ bikes to “rent” for free, affordable kites for sale, bike mechanics on site, and the beautiful scenery of Franklin Park, this event is not to be missed!

One neighborhood resident describes the Kite & Bike Festival as “my favorite day ever in the twenty years I’ve lived in Boston!”
Boston Bikes brings kids’ bicycles for children to “rent” for free, and Bikes Not Bombs has bike mechanics on site.
Come celebrate our own “opening day.”


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Green Your Streets! Allston Community Planting 
Saturday, May 19
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Union Square, Boston

Come brighten up your Allston community! This is a volunteer community service opportunity where we will be planting flowers and other greens in your local neighborhood of Allston. Come connect to your community! 

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Sunday, May 20
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IGNITE: A conference for creative community builders
Sunday, May 20
12:00-6:00 pm
Lesley University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost:  $65, general admission
$45, early bird and students

Gather to learn how and why communities are formed in contemporary society. Our speakers span the disciplines and include experts in community art, yoga, civics engagement, and performance art.

Early bird ticket prices now extended through May 10! Buy them now to save $20 on your ticket: http://mirandashearth.com/ignite

Featured speakers include:
Betty Francisco, Latina Circle
Daniel Callahan, MassQ
Matt McArthur, The Record Co
Mike Massey, 33 Degree Yoga
Rachel Panitch, Andria Nicodemou, Thread Ensemble
Matthew Reese & Kate Mikell, Porter Square Books
Sara Stackhouse, Boston Conservatory
and more!


Share your excitement at #ignitethehearth!

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Monday, May 21
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Book Launch: Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together
Monday, May 21
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building E62-276 100 Main Street, Cambridge

Join Thomas Malone, Joi Ito, Patrick Winston, and Kathleen Kennedy for the launch of the book Superminds: The Surprising Power and People and Computers Thinking Together, and an exciting discussion around the power of superminds.

Lunch will be provided, and the book will be available for sale and signing by the author.

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Stereotype Threat and Identity Threat: The Science of a Diverse Community
Monday, May 21
2:30pm — 4:00pm
MIT Media Lab, E14 - 3rd Floor Atrium, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Drawing on stereotype threat and social identity threat research, this talk will address the why, what and how of diverse learning communities: why they are important, a working hypothesis about what is critical to their success and what research reveals about how to achieve that success. The talk’s practical aim is to identify features of diverse learning communities—schools, universities and academic disciplines—that while good for all students, are especially helpful for minority students generally, and for women in STEM fields. The talk will also explore the psychological significance of community and its role in learning.
Claude M. Steele is an American social psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. He is best known for his work on stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance. His earlier work dealt with research on the self (e.g., self-image, self-affirmation) as well as the role of self-regulation in addictive behaviors. In 2010, he released his book, Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, summarizing years of research on stereotype threat and the underperformance of minority students in higher education.
He holds B.A. in Psychology from Hiram College, an M.A. in Social Psychology from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and Statistical Psychology from Ohio State University.

He is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Board, the
National Academy of Education, and the American Philosophical Society.

He currently serves as a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and as a Fellow for both the American Institutes for Research and the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

He has served in several major academic leadership positions as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley, the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at Stanford University, and as the 21st Provost of Columbia University. Past roles also include serving as the President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, as the President of the Western Psychological Association, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Society.

Professor Steele holds Honorary Doctorates from Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, DePaul University and Claremont Graduate University.

Event Contact:  Andrea Porras
(617) 253-1631

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VRHealth presents Virtual treatment and exercise rooms
Monday, May 21
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
MIT 5th floor Conference room, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge

We get inspiration and find beauty in Art. Let's find out the brain mechanisms of it.

SCHEDULE:
6:00pm - Doors open, demos begin, snacks are served.
6:50pm -Announcements and Community information
7:00 - Erran Orr from VRHealth talk begins
8:30pm - 8:30 - 9:45 Demofest!!
9:45 - After party at the Glasshouse

VRHealth creates "Virtual Treatment & Exercise Rooms" by developing breakthrough medical and wellness applications using Virtual Reality (VR) to deliver an enhanced experience and real-time data analytics, for use in clinics and at home, where users can analyze and quantify performance through a digital experience. VRHealth is the first certified virtual reality medical company in the world and all its medical products are FDA authorized.

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Health Benefits of Going Green
Monday, May 21
6:30pm to 8:00pm
Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston

Join the Harvard Ed Portal and Ari Bernstein of the Harvard University Center for the Environment for a faculty speaker presentation, Health Benefits of Going Green. Bernstein will discuss how actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as burning less coal, can create immediate and local health benefits. This event is free and open to the public.

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Tuesday, May 22
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Modeling Common Ground for Multimodal Communication
Tuesday, May 22
11:00 AM
Seminar Room, Gordon Institute, 200 Boston Ave.

Speaker: James Pustejovsky, Brandeis University

Abstract
The demand for more sophisticated human-computer interactions is rapidly increasing, as users become more accustomed to conversation- like interactions with their devices. In this talk, we examine this changing landscape in the context of human-machine interaction in a shared workspace to achieve a common goal. In our prototype system, people and avatars cooperate to build blocks world structures through the interaction of language, gesture, vision, and action. This provides a platform to study computational issues involved in multimodal communication. In order to establish elements of the common ground in discourse between speakers, we have created an embodied 3D simulation, enabling both the generation and interpretation of multiple modalities, including: language, gesture, and the visualization of objects moving and agents acting in their environment. The simulation is built on the modeling language VoxML, that encodes objects with rich semantic typing and action affordances, and actions themselves as multimodal programs, enabling contextually salient inferences and decisions in the environment. We illustrate this with a walk-through of multimodal communication in a shared task. 

Bio
James Pustejovsky is the TJX Feldberg professor of computer science at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. His expertise includes theoretical and computational modeling of language, specifically: Computational linguistics, Lexical semantics, Knowledge representation, temporal and spatial reasoning and Extraction. His main topics of research are Natural language processing generally, and in particular, the computational analysis of linguistic meaning.

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Jessica Fjeld and Mason Kortz, Cyberlaw Clinicians at Harvard Law 
Art that Imitates Art: Computational Creativity and Creative Contracting
Tuesday, May 22
12:00 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1015, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Complimenary Lunch Served

Computational creativity—a subdomain of artificial intelligence concerned with systems that replicate or assist human creative endeavors—has been the  subject of academic inquiry for decades. Now, with recent improvements in machine learning techniques and the rising popularity of all thing AI, computational creativity is a medium for critically and commercially successful works of art. From a 2016 Rembrandt to Jukedeck’s instant music (or muzak?), AI-assisted and AI-driven works are a reality. This raises mind-bending questions about the nature of creativity, the relationship between the artist and the viewer, even the existence of free will. For many lawyers, it also raises a more immediate question: who owns all of this art?

Join Cyberlaw Clinicians Jess Fjeld and Mason Kortz for a discussion about copyright in AI-generated works, the need for a shared understanding of what is and isn’t up for grabs in a license, and how forward-thinking contracts can prevent AI developers and artists from having their rights decided by (often notoriously backwards-looking) legal system.

About Jessica
Jessica Fjeld is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic. She works in diverse areas including intellectual property, media and entertainment (particularly public media), freedom of expression, and law and policy relating to government and nonprofit entities. Before joining the Clinic, Jessica worked in Business & Legal Affairs for WGBH Educational Foundation, and as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP focused in corporate transactions. She received a JD from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar and Managing Editor of the Journal of Law and the Arts; an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts; and a BA from Columbia University.

About Mason
Mason Kortz is a clinical instructional fellow at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic, part of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. His areas of interest include online speech and privacy and the use of data products (big or small) to advance social justice. Mason has worked as a data manager for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a legal fellow in the Technology for Liberty Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and a clerk in the District of Massachusetts. He has a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA in Computer Science and Philosophy from Dartmouth College. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, reading, and game design.

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Film Screening: The Chinese Exclusion Act
Tuesday, May 22
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building 14N-132 (DIRC), 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Please join the MIT Libraries' Committee for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion (CPDI) for a preview screening of The Chinese Exclusion Act. This film was created by award-winning documentary filmmakers Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu of Steeplechase Films and draws on the work of many historians, activists, and cultural experts. It examines the American prohibition of Chinese immigration in 1882, its causes, effects, and reverberations in the present political climate. It also examines what defines an “American” identity.

Light refreshments will be available, but please feel free to bring lunch as well. 

If you are unable to attend, this film will have its broadcast premiere on the acclaimed PBS series American Experience on May 29. To learn more about the film, please visit www.caamedia.org/CEA.

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How Can Trees Mitigate Climate Change?
Tuesday, May 22
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
The Nature Conservancy, 99 Bedford Street, Suite 5, Boston

New Engladers have a special relationship with trees. We mark our changing seasons with the cycling of their leaves and each year, their turnover encompasses the majority of small talk in the region. But beyond their aesthetic value, trees hold the potential to sequester sizable amounts of the carbon we emit into the atmosphere and provide tangible ecosystem services in suburban and urban areas.

Join CABA and The Nature Conservancy for an evening where trees become more than small talk. Learn about the tangible benefits they offer our communities and your business with a panel featuring experts who tackle the subject from the public and private sectors.

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The Changing Energy Landscape in Massachusetts – Annual Banquet
Tuesday, May 22
6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Holiday Inn Boston - Brookline, 1200 Beacon Street, Brookling
Cost: $35 per person or $270 per table of eight. $10 per student
*A small convenience fee will apply to online ticket transactions

Come and join us for an evening of fun and networking!!! 

The Changing Energy Landscape in Massachusetts
Speaker: Judith Judson, Commissioner, Massachusetts – Department of Energy Resources 
Featuring: Buffet style dinner, cash bar and live music by “Jazz in the Air” 

Checks are also acceptable. Please make the check payable to IEEE PES Boston Chapter and mail it to: 
IEEE PES Boston
c/o Martin
50 Church Street
Westwood, MA 02090

Registration Closing Date and Time: 3PM on Friday, May 18, 2018 

Visit IEEE PES Boston Chapter’s website for details!  http://www.ieeepesboston.org/

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To End a Presidency:  The Power of Impeachment
Tuesday, May 22
6:30 PM (Doors at 6:00)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes constitutional scholar and Harvard professor LAURENCE TRIBE and attorney, publisher, and author JOSHUA MATZ for a discussion of their latest co-authored book, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment.
Please Note

Seating is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Seating and elevator access to the Lecture Hall (located on level L2) will begin at 6pm. A 70-car underground parking garage with access from Broadway is available when the library is open.

About To End a Presidency
To End a Presidency addresses one of today's most urgent questions: when and whether to impeach a president. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz provide an authoritative guide to impeachment's past and a bold argument about its proper role today. In an era of expansive presidential power and intense partisanship, we must rethink impeachment for the twenty-first century.

Of impeachments, one Constitutional Convention delegate declared, "A good magistrate will not fear them. A bad one will be kept in fear of them." To End a Presidency is an essential book for all Americans seeking to understand how this crucial but fearsome power should be exercised.

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A Short Border Handbook: A Journey Through the Immigrant’s Labyrinth
Tuesday May 22
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline 

Gazmend Kapllani in conversation with Laura Tavares 

An exhilarating and darkly comical exploration of migration and borders from an Albanian who grew up in Hoxha’s madhouse, longing to cross to Greece, only to find another seam of absurdities and disappointments on his eventual arrival.

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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 23
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ECOLOGY AND SONIC PRACTICE
Wednesday, May 23
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge

with D. Edward Davis & Jennie Gottschalk
Curated by: Susanna Bolle (Non-Event)
Davis and Gottschalk will share examples of sonic practice that deal with ecological issues. They will explore various approaches, including field recording, text scores, and technological interventions, in which art and science interact. 

Jennie Gottschalk writes, composes, talks, listens, and transcribes. Experimental music is the most consistent focus of these actions. Some of the results can be found on soundexpanse.com, jenniegottschalk.com, and in Experimental Music since 1970 (Bloomsbury, 2016). She got her doctorate in composition from Northwestern University in 2008 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

D. Edward Davis is a composer whose work engages with the sounds of the environment, exploring processes, patterns, and systems inspired by nature. He holds composition degrees from Duke University, Brooklyn College, and Northwestern University. He is currently a Practitioner-in-Residence at the University of New Haven.

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Thursday, May 24
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Massachusetts Clean Energy Day 
Thursday, May 24
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Massachusetts State House, Boston

Massachusetts Clean Energy Day will showcase the growing vitality of the clean energy industry and the importance of consistent policy support as a means of catalyzing the state’s - and our region’s - economy.

Event Contact

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Nanolecture: Rapid In Vivo Assessment of the Nano/Bio Interface to Help Develop Safer Nanomaterials
WHEN  Thursday, May 24, 2018, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Building 1, Room 1302, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HSPH-NIEHS Nanosafety Center
SPEAKER(S)  Robert Tanguay, Professor of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University
DETAILS  While nanotechnology has significant potential to address numerous societal needs, innovators, policy makers and the public have concerns that the novel properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) may cause harm. The number of new ENMs continues to outpace efforts to understand their impacts on biological systems. To keep pace, we have advanced the use of the zebrafish model to interrogate the interactions between ENMs and biological systems. Early developmental life stages are often uniquely sensitive to environmental insults, due in part to the enormous changes in cellular differentiation, proliferation and migration required to form the required cell types, tissues and organs. Thus, this life stage is the ideal life platform to determine if precision-engineered nanomaterials can target biological pathways. With small quantities of test materials, we broadly assess the impacts of ENM exposures on growth, organ development, cardiovascular function, and complex neurobehavior using high throughput screening (HTS) methods. Through automation, we use a systematic and iterative strategy to elucidate the nanomaterials properties that drive biological responses. To date, we have assessed hundreds of unique nanomaterials from a number of sources that span diverse classes of materials. This talk will discuss the detailed approaches, advantages, challenges and examples using HTS in vivo approaches to assess the biocompatibility of ENMs.

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Little Big Data in Infectious Disease Research
Thursday, May 24
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT,  Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Kristian G. Andersen, The Scripps Research Institute

Biological Engineering Seminar 
Hosted by Prof Douglas A. Lauffenburger

For more information about this event, please contact:
617-253-1712 or be-acad@mit.edu

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Boston Harbor for All: The Mayors’ Perspective
Thursday, May 24
5:30 p.m.
Simons IMAX Theatre at the New England Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, Boston

Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston
Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem
Mayor Thomas McGee of Lynn

THIS LECTURE IS CO-HOSTED BY BOSTON HARBOR NOW AND THE NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM.

Please join us for a discussion with Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston, Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem, Mayor Thomas McGee of Lynn, and other leaders on Boston Harbor’s role in the regional economy, climate resilience, public access and open space, water transportation, and public health and well-being. Boston Harbor is at a critical moment in history. In an era of climate change and a building boom, how do we work together to create a waterfront that is accessible and resilient – truly a harbor for all?

Our collective success in cleaning up the harbor has created a new set of opportunities and urgent challenges. The planning and design decisions we make today will impact our waterfront for decades to come. Only by collaborating and breaking down silos will we get it right.

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Net Positive Energy
Thursday, May 24
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Fort Point Room, Atlantic Wharf, 280 Congress Street, Boston
Cost:  $53.55 - $69.31

Join green technology firms and building product companies to discuss cutting-edge research and products to support net positive energy buildings. Start the night off by catching up with your colleagues with drinks and networking. Presenters will discuss advances in building technologies during education tracks, including case studies, equipment, products, renewable energy innovations and more. Paired with networking opportunities and exhibition tables, companies and vendors will present the newest products that contribute massive improvements to net positive structures.
Our Building Tech Forum will also feature a display floor where companies and vendors will present the newest products and improvements in structures for sustainability.
Interested in presenting? See how to get involved.
Are you a member of the media or would like to share this event? See our media pack.
Schedule
5:30-5:45: Networking and Bar Opens.
5:45-6:00: Opening Remarks
6:00-7:00: Multi-Session Educational Presentations
7:00-8:15: Networking and Expo Tables
8:15-8:30: Final Remarks

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Future of Grocery
Thursday, May 24s
6 - 8:30pm
CIC Boston, 50 Milk Street, Lighthouse - 20th Floor, Boston
Cost:  $20 - $75.95

Future of Food Panel Series

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Friday, May 25 
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A lecture in "Preservation and Promoting of Chinese Culture and Arts through Film Making Producing and Directing the Ip Man Series”
WHEN  Friday, May 25, 2018, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard, Science Center - Hall B.Oxford Street,Harvard University
Cambridge, MAGAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Wellness/Work Life
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Harvard Tai Chi Club - Master Yon Lee.
In Association with the US Dragon & Lion Dance Federation present: Ilya Chalik Memorial Lecture on Shaolin Culture. Keynote by: Master Checkley Sin Kwok Lam (Producer, Screenwriter & Director)SPEAKER(S)Master Checkley Sin Kwok Lam (Producer, Screenwriter & Director)COSTFREECONTACT INFOMaster Yon Lee

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Fuck Up Boston Volume VIII
Friday, May 25 
6:30 am - 9:30 pm
CIC Cambridge, One Broadway, Havana Room, Fl 5, Cambridge
Cost:  $10

What is Fuckup Nights? Fuckup Nights is a global movement born in Mexico in 2012 to publicly share business failure stories. Hundreds of people attend each event to hear three to four entrepreneurs share their failures. Each speaker is given 7-10 minutes and is able to use 10 images to illustrate their story.

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Saturday, May 26
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Drone Warfare Protest
Saturday, May 26
12pm
Central Square, Cambridge

Join us to protest the US drone warfare program around the world Saturday,
May 26 at noon in Central Square, Cambridge.  We will display a drone
replica, hold signs of drone victims in Pakistan and speak out against this
deadly new form of war, that terrorizes people in many countries.
Organized by the Eastern Massachusetts Anti-Drones Network, a task force of
UJP.  For info, call (617) 776-6524 or write info@justicewithpeace.org

Editorial Comment:  Drone warfare is only one aspect of the technology available today.  Tanzania and Rwanda are using drones for medical supplies and emergency services.  Personal, group, and corporate drone usage is already here.  We should take a moment or two to think about it.

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Standing Waves #12: Aki Onda, Lecture and Concert Series
Saturday, May 26
4:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT Press Bookstore, Building N50, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Join the MIT Press Bookstore for Standing Waves #12: a lecture and concert series, featuring Aki Onda.

Aki Onda is a New York-based artist and composer. He is particularly known for his “Cassette Memories” — works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings collected by using the cassette Walkman over a span of last quarter-century. He creates compositions, performances, and visual artworks from those sound memories. Onda often performs in interdisciplinary fields and collaborates with filmmakers, visual artists, and choreographers, including Ken Jacobs, Michael Snow, Raha Raissnia, Akio Suzuki, and Takao Kawaguchi. Onda’s work has been presented numerous institutions such as MoMA, The Kitchen, documenta 14, Pompidou Center, Louve Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Bozar, and many others.

Standing Waves is a monthly music, sound, and artist talk series with a concentration on one artist in the performance of and presentation about their work. Standing Waves is given over to a single artist for each event that allows for the performance and auditioning of their work as well as a presentation to the audience about it that makes for an intimate as well as rigorous experience, with the integrity and intention of the artist and work aligned and revealed. A distinguishing element of the series will also be a document in the form of a book that includes critical writings and photographs from the events. This comprehensive approach will elucidate the music, sound art and practices that overlap and comprise the artists’ works.

The Standing Waves lecture and concert series is offered with support from Cambridge Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Suggested donation at the event in support of Standing Waves: $5-10.

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Opportunity
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Announcing Destination 2040: The next long-range transportation plan for the Boston region

How would you improve the Boston region’s transportation system? That’s the question at the heart of the MPO’s preparations for Destination 2040, which the MPO expects to adopt in the spring of 2019.

Every four years, the MPO identifies the system’s strengths and weaknesses; forecasts changes in population, employment, and land use; and creates a plan to address existing and future mobility needs. The resulting long-range transportation plan (LRTP) allocates funding for major projects in the Boston region and guides the MPO’s funding of capital investment programs and studies.

Use the new Destination 2040 website at http://ctps.org/lrtp-dev to explore the state of the system; learn how the MPO will identify needs, revisit its vision and goals, and prioritize its investments; and share your own interests, concerns, and ideas.

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Resource
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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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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
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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