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, September 17
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12pm PAOC Colloquium - Ian Eisenman (Univ. of California, San Diego)
12pm Caring for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma
12pm Let's Rebuild Earth Science with Al
12pm A Process Systems Framework for Design and Operation of Modular Energy Systems
12pm Why Distributed? How to Think about the Value and Cost of Distributed Energy Resources
12pm The Harvard Law School Project on Disability Open House In honor of Special Olympics, with guest Tim Shriver
12:10pm Aligning Production Methods & Urban Tree Planting Objectives
12:15pm Multiple Carbons: Ontologies and Governance in the Climate Regime
2pm Global Maternal Health Symposium
4:15pm El Niño as a Topological Insulator: A Surprising Connection Between Climate and Quantum Physics
5pm BERKMAN KLEIN CENTER & FRIENDS Fall 2018 Open House
5pm Boston Idealist Grad Fair 2018
5:30pm E4Dev Talk: Accelerating sustainable energy transitions in developing countries
5:30pm Human Rights in 2018 - Salil Shetty, former Secretary General of Amnesty International
6pm Saving Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys
6pm Why Gridlock Rules Washington and How We Can Solve the Crisis
6pm Science Policy Initiative September Discussion: Public Discourse in the Information Age
6pm Sport Matters: On Art, Social Artifice, and Athletics, or, the Politics of Sport
6pm The MIT Forum: Robert Lustig
6pm Boston Indies: September, Lightning Talks
6:30pm Role of Clouds and Particles in Climate... with a Dash of Fog
7pm When History Is Personal
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Tuesday, September 18
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8:30am Intro to WELL Building Standard
12pm Government, Campaigns, and The Media
12pm Platforms, Politics, and Power: UNDERSTANDING AND SHAPING THE INTERNET IN 2018
12pm EBC Energy Resources Webinar: Public Perception of Power in New England @ WEBINAR
12:30pm A Labor Perspective on Human Trafficking
12:30m North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons State
3pm CCIS DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER AND CYBERSECURITY SPEAKER SERIES: SIDE CHANNELS IN MULTI-TENANT ENVIRONMENTS
3pm Sexual Harassment of Women - A Consensus Study Report of NASEM
4pm Reinforcement Learning Systems at DeepMind
4pm Mission Zero: Interface's Journey to Zero Negative Environmental Impact
4:15pm Polling China: Understanding Public Opinion Across China
4:30pm Impostor Syndrome: Why Capable People Suffer and How to Thrive in Spite of It
5:30pm Augustine's City of God and the Nature of Politics
5:30pm Blockchain Technology: Patents vs. Open Source
6pm Boston New Technology Startup Showcase
8pm PechaKucha Somerville Presents: Volume 1: Trial & Error
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Wednesday, September 19
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7:30am Boston Sustainability Breakfast
11:45am Doing Capitalism: The Dark Side of the Three-Player Game
12pm Deciphering aging: Linking senescence with DNA damage and the cell cycle
12pm Pacific Abyssal Transport and Mixing near the Samoan Passage and Manihiki Plateau
12pm Before the 13th: The Origins of Convict Leasing
12:30pm PICS Seminar: Selecting the Site for Mars Sample Return for the Mars-2020 Rover Mission
12:30pm Social Impact Investing and Development
12:30pm Igor Istomin: What Drives Russian Foreign Policy?
3:30pm Gerrymandering: Can Computing Cut the Gordian Knot?
4pm Materials in Energy: From Nano to Macro
4pm 3rd Annual Origins Prize Lecture
4:15pm Think You Know the American Electorate?
5pm Women Waging Peace
5pm STH Distinguished Alumni Panel: The Three Greatest Challenges Facing Us In the Next Decade
5:30pm A Foreign Policy Conversation with U.S. Congressman Joaquín Castro
6pm The Lust for Land and the Roots of King Philip's War
7pm Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist
7pm GRAND CANYON FOR SALE: Public Land versus Private Interest?
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Thursday, September 20, 6:00 PM – Saturday, September 22, 4:00 PM EDT
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Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon
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Thursday, September 20
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11am Sustainability Festival
12pm The planet on our plates: The case for incorporating sustainability into dietary guidelines
12pm Get Involved: Enter the Digital Universe of Your Tween/Teen
12:30pm Displacement Research & Action Network (DRAN) Social
3pm MIT Press Essential Knowledge Book Launch: Carbon Capture
3pm Playing to the Crowd (Leading Voices Speaker Series)
3:30pm Consilience, Model Lineages, and A Truly Integrative Phylogenetic Biology
4pm Populism and the Future of Liberal Democracy in the West - A Lecture by Sheri Berman
4pm 'Circle Up' Film Screening and Discussion
4pm BlueTech New England: Innovating Oceans & Waterfronts with Cutting-Edge Tech
5pm Let Me Be Frank: The Traitorous Turnabout of an Evangelical Heir Apparent
5pm Thomas Allen Harris: “Collective Wisdom” Keynote
5pm PTC & MassChallenge Oktoberfest Party and Tech Showcase
5:30pm Gitner Family CAS Lecture: The Opioid Crisis from a Humanist's Perspective
5:30pm Jeanne S. Chall Lecture and Reception - Teaching Readers, Not Reading: Addressing Students' Individual Differences
6pm authors@MIT: Mark Stuart Day, Bits to Bitcoin
6pm Congress’ Role in Trump Era Foreign Policy
6pm Breakpoint: Reckoning with America’s Environmental Crises
6pm Reception: Teresita Fernández — Wayfinding
6pm Resilient Places + People
6pm Synaptic Stories
6:30pm Making Robots Behave: Doing for our robots what nature did for us
6:30pm MIT Energy Club Kickoff 2018
6:30pm Ranjani Mazumdar, “The Cinematic Slum”
6:30pm Viewing of the movie Chasing Coral, followed by panel discussion
6:30pm Social Media Panel Online vs Reality
7pm Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times
7pm Betraying Big Brother
7pm The Science and the Engineering of Intelligence with Tomaso Poggio
7pm The Knife Edge of Value Alignment in AI: Utopia or Extinction
8pm A Documentary History of the United States
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Friday, September 21, 9 a.m. – Saturday, September 22, 3 p.m.
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Changing Middle Classes: Comparative and Global Perspectives
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Friday, September 21
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Parking Day
8:15am Molecular Robotics, 9th Annual Wyss International Symposium
8:30am So You’re a Multicellular Microbe…
9:30am Being Bold: The Implementation of BU’s Climate Action Plan
12:15pm Gutman Library Book Talk: Educational Goods
3pm Can We Solve the Migration Crisis?
3pm Network Science – A Network of Sciences
4:15pm Global Income Inequality
7pm No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding
7pm Lessons from Nature for Edible Ecosystems and Human Societies with Dave Jacke
8pm Leadership: In Turbulent Times
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Saturday, September 22, 8:45am to 6pm, and Sunday, September 23, 12 noon to 6pm
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Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Two-Day Basic Level Workshop
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Saturday, September 22
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9am Lynn Wind & Water Tour
9am Gardening Like the Forest: Designing Plant Guilds and Perennial Polycultures
12pm Homes For All Assembly: Build a People's Plan!
1pm Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Started a Scientific Revolution!
3pm Fluff the 13th
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Sunday, September 23
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12pm FARM KICKOFF WITH GREEN CAMBRIDGE
2pm Jazz Along The Charles: A Walkable Concert
2pm United Nations International Day of Peace 2018 - Boston
2pm FarmFarm UnBrunch Potluck Party
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Monday, September 24 - Sunday, September 30
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Cambridge Climate Preparedness Week
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Monday, September 24
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8:30am African Sustainable Development Conference
11am The Growing Need for Precision in LED Lighting
12pm Kristen Soltis Anderson
12pm PAOC Colloquium - Paul Wennberg (Caltech)
12pm State Policies and Wholesale Electricity Markets
12pm Immigrants Making America Great Again: Lessons from an Undocumented Immigrant Turned Lawyer
12:10pm Invasive plant challenges and opportunities in the U.S.
12:15pm Not-so-big Data and Ebola Virus Disease
3pm Science, Religion, and Out-of-Body Experiences
3:30pm Land-use Regimes and the Future of New England’s Forest Carbon
4:30pm Reflections on a lifetime effort to bring peace to the Middle East: An Interview with Herbert C. Kelman
4:30pm The Future of Food and Nutrition: Implications for Science, Dietary Guidelines, and Food Policy
5pm Science Sounds Strange: Ether Waves, Espionage, and the Theremin’s Odyssey
5:30pm Boston's Creative Economy Mingle
6pm Conflict and the Global Threat of Pandemics
6pm Solar Access Celebration
6:30pm Sheila Remes, "The Future is Built Here”
7pm Tales from an Uncertain World
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Tuesday, September 25
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8am By the People: Revolutionizing the Democratic Process to Ensure Full Participation by Millennials and People of Color
8:30am Intro to PassivHaus
11am Sustainability Festival
12pm Eugene Scott
12pm Neighborhood Matters: a Screening of Invisible Crisis and Conversation with Patricia Montes
12pm "Click Here to Kill Everybody”
12pm FORUM: VULNERABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
12pm Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism
12:30pm What Makes a Climate Leader? The Politics of Climate Policy in California and Germany
3pm Outbreak Week - Global Disease Outbreaks: Shaping public health infrastructure and investments
3:30pm Books@Baker with Nancy Koehn
4pm Resiliency with Microgrids: A Peek Inside
4:30pm Starr Forum: The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies
5pm Gotta Get Down to It: Conversations with musician David Crosby
5:30pm DUSP [Department of Urban Studies and Planning] Lightning Talks
6pm What’s New? What’s Next? Cultural and Structural Threats to the Constitutional Order of the United States and Western Europe
6:30pm Outbreak Week - Emerging Infections Then and Now: From the Influenza Pandemic to the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis
7pm On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope
7pm Black Flags, Blue Waters
7pm Dancing with the Future
7pm Boston Science for the People chapter meeting
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
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Monday, September 17
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PAOC Colloquium - Ian Eisenman (Univ. of California, San Diego)
Monday, September 17
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915/923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ian Eisenman (Univ. of California, San Diego)
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
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Caring for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma
Monday, September 17
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
BU, 121 Bay State Road, Boston
Dr. Michael Grodin joins the Pardee School Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking from the Medical Campus to discuss the complexities of providing care to refugees and survivors of torture.
Michael Alan Grodin, M.D., is Professor of Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights at the Boston University School of Public Health, and in the Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights, where he has received the two highest awards granted the Faculty, the Career Research and Scholarship Award and the Norman A. Scotch Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Grodin is Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Grodin is Director of the Project on Ethics and the Holocaust at the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Professor of Jewish Studies and a member of the Division of Religious Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences. He completed his B.S. degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his M.D. degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, his postdoctoral and fellowship training at UCLA and Harvard, and he has been on the faculty of Boston University for the past 37 years.Dr. Grodin is also the Medical Ethicist at Boston Medical Center and founding director of the Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human Rights.
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Let's Rebuild Earth Science with Al
Monday, September 17
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, Haller Hall (102), Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
with Brandon Meade, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
EPS Colloquium
Lunch will be provided.
Contact Name: Summer Smith
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A Process Systems Framework for Design and Operation of Modular Energy Systems
Monday, September 17
12:00 NOON
Tufts, Scitech Room 136, 4 Colby St, Medford
Dr. Fernando Lima, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University
Abstract: With the growing energy demand and stringent environmental regulations, the efficient, economic and sustainable use of major energy sources has become increasingly important. The development and implementation of novel technologies for the improved utilization of such energy sources can be accelerated by the use of process systems engineering tools, such as process modeling, design, control, and optimization. In particular, the investigation of intensified and modular methane conversion routes with reduced cost and minimized environmental impact is especially motivated by the presence of abundant amounts of natural gas in different shale formations in the country, including the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia. This presentation will focus on the development of a process systems framework to enable the design and operation of modular energy systems.
Modular systems have the potential to transform the US economy, by utilizing local distributed feedstock (e.g., stranded gas) without the need of transporting it from the exploration areas to the utilization plants. However, the design and intensification of modular energy systems is a challenging task as these processes are represented by complex and nonlinear models, with large numbers of differential and algebraic equations that demand high computational effort for their solution. This presentation will introduce a novel operability-based approach as a tool for enabling process design and intensification of nonlinear energy processes, facilitating the realization of the concept of modular manufacturing. The developed operability approach is based on nonlinear programming tools and describes the relationship between key process input/design and output variables through a nonlinear mapping obtained by employing the process model. To address the dimensionality challenge, the incorporation of bilevel and parallel programming approaches into the classical process operability concepts is proposed. The employment of computational geometry tools is also explored for further reduction of computational expense. For the operation of such modular systems under the presence of uncertainties, a stochastic model predictive controller (MPC) combined with a moving horizon estimator (MHE) are designed for implementation on a catalytic membrane reactor system for the direct methane aromatization (DMA) conversion to hydrogen and benzene. Such developments for modular systems will be discussed, along with their expansion to address other complex chemical and energy systems.
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Why Distributed? How to Think about the Value and Cost of Distributed Energy Resources
Monday, September 17
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Jesse Jenkins, Environmental Fellow, Harvard University Center for the Environment
Lunch will be served.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar
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The Harvard Law School Project on Disability Open House In honor of Special Olympics, with guest Tim Shriver
WHEN Monday, Sep. 17, 2018, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Austin Hall, Room 101 East, 1515 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Athletic, Award Ceremonies, Law
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Harvard Law School Project on Disability
SPEAKER(S) Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D., Chairman, Special Olympics International
Melissa Joy Reilly, Athlete, Board Member, Special Olympics, Massachusetts
CONTACT INFO hpod@law.harvard.edu
DETAILS The Harvard Law School Project on Disability Open House
With special guests Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D., Chairman, Special Olympics International
And Melissa Joy Reilly, Athlete, Board Member, Special Olympics, Massachusetts
In celebration of The Special Olympics 50th Anniversary
Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, noon
Catered lunch available at 11:30 a.m.
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Aligning Production Methods & Urban Tree Planting Objectives
Monday, September 17
12:10p
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, 1300 Centre Street, Boston
Rick Harper, Extension Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
More information at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
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Multiple Carbons: Ontologies and Governance in the Climate Regime
Monday, September 17
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7VGUkAvTU655Dub2FTGSNMjpVs6f8Qbu0kpmXh6oz11MgFw/viewform
Stefan Schäfer (Berlin IASS and Harvard STS)
The STS Circle at Harvard is a group of doctoral students and recent PhDs who are interested in creating a space for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary issues in science and technology that are relevant to people in fields such as anthropology, history of science, sociology, STS, law, government, public policy, and the natural sciences. We want to engage not only those who are working on intersections of science, politics, and public policy, but also those in the natural sciences, engineering, and architecture who have serious interest in exploring these areas together with social scientists and humanists.
There has been growing interest among graduate students and postdocs at Harvard in more systematic discussions related to STS. More and more dissertation writers and recent graduates find themselves working on exciting topics that intersect with STS at the edges of their respective home disciplines, and they are asking questions that often require new analytic tools that the conventional disciplines don’t necessarily offer. They would also like wider exposure to emerging STS scholarship that is not well-represented or organized at most universities, including Harvard. Our aim is to try to serve those interests through a series of activities throughout the academic year.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
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Global Maternal Health Symposium
WHEN Monday, Sep. 17, 2018, 2 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard School of Public Health, Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Maternal Health Task Force, a project of the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S) Aparajita Gogoi, National Coordinator, White Ribbon Alliance India
Christy Turlington-Burns, Founder and CEO, Every Mother Counts
Nina Martin, Reporter, ProPublica
Ana Langer, Director of the Maternal Health Task Force, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
Margaret Kruk, Associate Professor of Global Health, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
Jigyasa Sharma, Doctor of Science Candidate, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
Mary Mwanyika-Sando, CEO, Africa Academy of Public Health
Richard Adanu, Dean of the School of Public Health, University of Ghana
DIRECTED BY Maternal Health Task Force
COST Free
TICKET INFO RSVP required. Seating is limited.
CONTACT INFO mhtf@hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS The symposium will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Maternal Health Task Force, showcase achievements in global maternal health and chart a course forward for critical steps to end preventable maternal mortality and optimize maternal health around the world. A reception will follow. At the symposium, we will also announce the recipients of the inaugural Maternal Health Visionary Awards.
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El Niño as a Topological Insulator: A Surprising Connection Between Climate and Quantum Physics
Monday, September 17
4:15 – 5:15pm
Harvard, Jefferson 250, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Symmetries and topology play central roles in our understanding of physics. Topology, for instance, explains the precise quantization of the Hall Effect and the protection of surface states in topological insulators against scattering from disorder or bumps. However discrete symmetries and topology have so far played little role in thinking about the fluid dynamics of oceans and atmospheres. In this talk I show that, as a consequence of the rotation of the Earth that breaks time reversal symmetry, equatorially trapped Kelvin and Yanai waves emerge as topologically protected edge modes. Thus the oceans and atmosphere of Earth naturally share basic physics with topological insulators. As equatorially trapped Kelvin waves in the Pacific Ocean are an important component of El Niño Southern Oscillation and other climate processes, these new results demonstrate that topology plays a surprising role i n Earth’s climate system.
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BERKMAN KLEIN CENTER & FRIENDS Fall 2018 Open House
Monday, September 17
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West AB (Room 2019), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Please join us to learn about the Berkman Klein Center, our amazing community and digital Harvard friends at the Fall 2018 Open House. Our faculty, fellows, and staff look forward to meeting you!
5:00-6:00 pm - Project Showcase Session: Select Berkman Klein projects (as well as projects from our friends at the Harvard) will be present with information about their current activities. Staff working with each of these projects are eager to share information about the big research questions they are considering, meet potential future collaborators, and solicit ideas. In addition to the project tabling, there will be space and opportunity to connect with new Berkman Klein community members and Berkman Klein Center Staff and Faculty. You may come for any portion of time during this session.
6:00-7:00 pm - Reception: Keep the conversations going with the help of light snacks and drinks!
Spoiler alert: check out the current open research positions with our teams!
As a University-wide research center at Harvard, our interdisciplinary efforts in the exploration of cyberspace address a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. If you're interested in the Internet’s impact on society and are looking to engage a community of world-class fellows and faculty through events, conversations, research, and more please join us to hear more about our upcoming academic year.
People from all disciplines, universities, organizations, and backgrounds are encouraged to attend the Open House. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Boston Idealist Grad Fair 2018
Monday, September 17
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
BU, George Sherman Union, 2nd Floor Ballroom, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Learn about admissions requirements and application deadlines for graduate programs in social work, public policy, nonprofit management, international affairs, public interest law, social entrepreneurship, and many more
Speak with graduate admissions advisors from local, national and international universities
The fair is free and open to anyone considering graduate school. Now you can seamlessly share your information with recruiters with the click of a button! Find out about our new Grad Fair Mobile Site here.
Visit IdealistGradSchool.org for additional resources to assist you in planning for grad school.
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E4Dev Talk: Accelerating sustainable energy transitions in developing countries
Monday, September 17
5:30pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building E19-319 400 Main Street, Cambridge
This is e4Dev's first event of the semester! Dr. Laurence Delina will give a presentation on delibrately produced energy transition as a communal practice for expanding energy transitions in rural Thailand.
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Human Rights in 2018 - Salil Shetty, former Secretary General of Amnesty International
WHEN Monday, Sep. 17, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wexner Room 434 AB, 9 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Ethics, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
SPEAKER(S) Salil Shetty, former Secretary General of Amnesty International
CONTACT INFO Sarah Peck
DETAILS The Carr Center is excited to announce the continuation of its Speaker Series: The Fierce Urgency of Now: Human Rights in 2018. The series will be faciliated by Professor Mathias Risse.
At the 1963 March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr spoke of “the fierce urgency of now,” the need for immediate, “vigorous and positive action” on civil rights. This year, the Carr Center will host a series of talks that will examine the current state of human rights in the country, and worldwide. Please see our calendar for all upcoming dates and times.
*Please note, times/rooms might change. Always check our calendar for the most up-to-date information!*
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Saving Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys
Monday, September 17
6:00pm
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
James W. Porter, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
Coral reefs support more than a quarter of all marine life, yet many are critically endangered. In the Florida Keys, the once common elk horn coral (Acropora palmata) has experienced steep declines since the 1970s. Preliminary blame was attributed to global warming and coral bleaching, but in fact, a human bacterial pathogen associated with a wide range of serious infections was the culprit. James Porter will discuss how Key West residents are saving these reefs and he will highlight the intricate links among conservation, medicine, public health, economics, and politics.
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Why Gridlock Rules Washington and How We Can Solve the Crisis
WHEN Monday, Sep. 17, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Devontae Freeland '19, David Jolly, Victoria Marquez '20, Patrick Murphy, Joseph J. Heck (Moderator
CONTACT INFO IOP Forum Office, 617-495-1380
DETAILS A Conversation with
Devontae Freeland '19
President, Harvard College Democrats
David Jolly
Member of Congress (R-FL 13, 2014-2017)
Analyst, CNN & MSNBC
Victoria Marquez '20
VP for Campaigns and Activism, Harvard Republican Club
Patrick Murphy
Member of Congress (D-FL 18, 2013-2017)
Joseph J. Heck (Moderator)
Fall 2018 Resident Fellow, Institute of Politics
Member of Congress (NV-03, 2011 to 2017)
2016 Republican Nominee, U.S. Senate in Nevada
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Science Policy Initiative September Discussion: Public Discourse in the Information Age
Monday, September 17
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Building 56-162, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
At SPI’s Orientation Panel, we heard from experts at MIT about their views on social media. Now it’s your turn. How has online media shaped democracy? Can social media benefit individuals and society more than it does harm? And what should be done to prevent the spread of misinformation or harassment on the Internet? These are just a few of the questions that will become increasingly relevant as more and more public discourse takes place online. Join SPI at our first monthly meeting of the year on Monday, 9/17 at 6 pm in Room 56-162 for free dinner and lively discussion.
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Sport Matters: On Art, Social Artifice, and Athletics, or, the Politics of Sport
WHEN Monday, Sep. 17, 2018, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Room 133, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ludics seminar, the Mahindra Humanities Center
SPEAKER(S) Louis A. Ruprecht Jr., Georgia State University
CONTACT INFO vasiliki_rapti@emerson.edu
DETAILS This lecture will explore three interrelated topics. First, I will examine the moral implications of viewing sport as an example of social artifice, that is, arbitrary norm-and-boundary-creation which makes certain complex social rituals possible. Second, I will examine the history of the Modern Olympic Revival as an example of Neohellenism, one which emphasized the moral meaning of such athletic artifice. This will set the stage for the third and longest portion of the talk, a discussion of what is arguably the finest book on the moral and political meaning of organized sport, C. L. R. James’s Beyond a Boundary.
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The MIT Forum: Robert Lustig
Monday, September 17
6:00pm to 8:30pm
MIT, Samberg Conference Center, 7th Floor, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://alumic.mit.edu/s/1314/17form/interior.aspx?sid=1314&gid=13&pgid=44518&content_id=46952
Join fellow MIT alumni and friends for a special MIT Forum event featuring Robert Lustig '77, bestselling author, physician, and consumer advocate.
Lustig, a Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, has spent his academic career exposing the role sugar has played in contributing to poor health in America. His books Fat Chance and The Hacking of the American Mind, Sugar Has 56 Names, and Obesity Before Birth have effected significant change in the way food companies, governments, and consumers view the American diet.
Lustig's talk will be by a fireside chat with and audience Q&A. The event includes a reception with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. MIT alumni and guests are welcome.
Space is limited—register today.
The MIT Forum is a quarterly series, produced by the MIT Alumni Association, that spotlights thought leaders from around the world.
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Boston Indies: September, Lightning Talks
Monday, September 17
6:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The MIT Game Lab is happy to host the Boston Indies group this September for their monthly meeting. This month features a round of 'Lightning Talks' - short talks, rants, or raves from members of the Boston Indies communities about topics that are important to them.
Doors open at 6pm. Announcements and talks start at 7pm.
About Boston Indies (www.bostonindies.com):
Boston Indies is a community of dedicated independent game developers in Massachusetts and the surrounding area. Boston Indies works to foster a sense of community among Boston’s independent game developers, facilitate monthly meet-ups and other related community events, encourage developers to create games independent of large budgets and large company ties, provide a safe environment to obtain critical feedback on game development works in progress and serve as a brain trust for important information sharing among local independent developers.
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Role of Clouds and Particles in Climate... with a Dash of Fog
Monday, September 17
6:30–8:00pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain
Daniel Ciczo, PhD, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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When History Is Personal
Monday, September 17
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
When History Is Personal contains the stories of twenty-five moments in Mimi Schwartz's life, each heightened by its connection to historical, political, and social issues. These essays look both inward and outward so that these individualized tales tell a larger story--of assimilation, the women's movement, racism, anti-Semitism, end-of-life issues, ethics in writing, digital and corporate challenges, and courtroom justice.
A shrewd and discerning storyteller, Schwartz captures history from her vantage as a child of German-Jewish immigrants, a wife of over fifty years, a breast cancer survivor, a working mother, a traveler, a tennis player, a daughter, and a widow. In adding her personal story to the larger narrative of history, culture, and politics, Schwartz invites readers to consider her personal take alongside "official" histories and offers readers fresh assessments of our collective past.
Mimi Schwartz is a professor emerita in the writing program at Stockton University. She is the award-winning author of Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village and Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed and is the coauthor of Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction. Her essays have been widely anthologized, and ten of them have been listed as Notables in the Best American Series.
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Tuesday, September 18
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Intro to WELL Building Standard
Tuesday, September 18
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 16th Floor, "Edison" Room, 17th Floor, Boston
Cost: $45 – $60
The Introduction to the WELL Building Standard provides an overview of the WELL Building Standard ideology, structure, and certification process. The medical basis for the concept categories is introduced along with design and construction strategies to create healthy buildings. This training will introduce how to reinvent buildings that are better for both people and the planet using the WELL Building Standard as the framework.
Objectives
Articulate the financial, societal, and environmental benefits of WELL certification
Identify the role of the International Well Building Institute and the WELL Building Standard
Recognize the structure of the WELL Building Standard
Explain the 7 concepts of the WELL Building standard, the strategies to achieve them, and the health impacts they address
Summarize the certification process of the WELL Building Standard
If you are interested in having this session count towards your LEED credential, please self-report at USGBC.org and use GBCI: 0920003583 when referring to the session.
About the Instructor: Jen Taranto
Jenn Taranto, WELL AP, has over 15 years experience in the commercial real estate and construction industry. Jenn serves as Structure Tone’s Director of Sustainability, a key component of the team on any project. Her ability to manage and lead subcontractors through the LEED and WELL process comes from her previous background as a superintendent and a project manager. Jenn understands the importance of creating awareness at the early stages of the project with the subcontractor’s in order to succeed in meeting the client’s sustainability goals. Additionally, she understands the importance of being an active partner during the preconstruction integrated design process on projects that have sustainable goals.
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Government, Campaigns, and The Media
Tuesday, September 18
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Taubman 5th floor, Allison Dining Room, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Setti Warren
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Platforms, Politics, and Power: UNDERSTANDING AND SHAPING THE INTERNET IN 2018
Tuesday, Sep 18
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall Milstein East C (Room 2036, second floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Jonathan Zittrain
Join us on Harvard Law School campus to hear from Jonathan Zittrain, the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at the Harvard Law School Library, and co-founder of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society to learn more about the Berkman Klein Center and its network of researchers, activists, faculty, students, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, policy makers, lawyers, and more in an interactive conversation.
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EBC Energy Resources Webinar: Public Perception of Power in New England @ WEBINAR
Tuesday, September 18
12:00 pm – 1:15 pm
Webinar
RSVP at http://ebcne.org/event/ebc-energy-resources-webinar-public-perception-of-power-in-new-england/
Utilities and product companies are undergoing unprecedented change driven by climate policy, innovative smart-grid technologies, customer adoption of distributed energy, and new customer expectations. The stakes are high, and so is the price tag. Are customers really looking for an energy revolution – akin to how smart phones have changed the telecom industry? Or are they just looking for more affordable, resilient, reliable, clean power from their trusted utility? What are the barriers and opportunities for adapting to a shifting energy marketplace and how do utilities and customer adapt? We have asked customers directly what they expect and need from their utility and how they see the future. Join us for an information presentation to illuminate public opinion on this topic.
Program Chair:
Dale Knapp, MSc, CSS, LSE, CEP, PWS, Senior Environmental Consultant, Tetra Tech
Webinar Presentation:
Utility of the Future: The Customer’s Perspective
Harrison Grubbs, Director of Strategic Partnerships, KSV Company
Following the Speaker Presentation will be time for a Q&A session.
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A Labor Perspective on Human Trafficking
Tuesday, September 18
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-255, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Human trafficking is considered by many to be one of the most pressing moral and political challenges of today’s global economy. However, despite significant international commitment to combat trafficking a mere 3% of the millions of victims are identified every year, and far fewer are assisted. In her talk Dr. Shamir will propose that one reason for the low effectiveness of contemporary anti-trafficking efforts lies in the mismatch between the legal tools we use to address the problem, and the actual causes of human trafficking.
Dr. Shamir will discuss the need to move away from the currently predominant approach to trafficking, which focuses on criminal law, border control, and human rights, towards a labor-based approach that targets the structure of labor markets that are prone to severely exploitative labor practices. She will suggest a blueprint for such a labor approach, recognizing that there can be no “one size fits all” solution. The various components contributing to worker vulnerability can vary from country to country, city to city, and from sector to sector. Yet some tools – at the international, national, municipal, and workplace level - seem to have the potential to impact the balance of bargaining power between workers and employers in sectors prone to severe labor market exploitation. These include, for example, bilateral agreements on migration, national regulations of labor standards and recruitment practices, worker unionization (including alt-labor), and voluntary corporate codes of conduct.
Dr. Shamir earned her S.J.D. and LL.M. from Harvard Law School and LL.B. from Tel-Aviv University. Shamir received an European Research Council (ERC) grant to pursue research on a Labor Approach to Human Trafficking, and established TraffLab – labor perspective to human trafficking research project (2018-2023).
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North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons State
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2018, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Vipin Narang, Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School; U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs (2003-06); and Commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission (2014-17)
Moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Studies and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
COST Free and open to the public
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CCIS DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER AND CYBERSECURITY SPEAKER SERIES: SIDE CHANNELS IN MULTI-TENANT ENVIRONMENTS
Tuesday, September 18
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM EDT
Northeastern, Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), 805 Columbus Avenue, Boston
Speaker: Michael Reiter, Lawrence M. Slifkin Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
Due to the massive adoption of computing platforms that consolidate potentially distrustful tenants’ applications on common hardware—both large (e.g., public clouds) and small (e.g., smartphones)—the security provided by these platforms to their tenants is increasingly being scrutinized. In this talk we will review highlights from the last several years of research on a long-suspected but, until recently, largely hypothetical attack vector on such platforms, namely side-channel attacks. In these attacks, one tenant learns sensitive information about another tenant simply by running on the same hardware with it, but without violating the logical access control enforced by the platform’s isolation software (virtual machine monitor or operating system). We will then summarize various strategies we have explored to defend against side-channel attacks in their various forms, both inexpensive defenses against specific attacks and more holistic but expensive protections.
About the Speaker
Michael Reiter is the Lawrence M. Slifkin Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include all areas of computer and communications security and distributed computing. His professional responsibilities during his career so far have included Director of Secure Systems Research at Bell Labs; Professor and founding Technical Director of CyLab at Carnegie Mellon University; program chair for the flagship computer security conferences of the IEEE, the ACM, and the Internet Society; and Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, among others. Dr. Reiter was named an ACM Fellow in 2008 and an IEEE Fellow in 2014, and he received the ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award in 2016.
More information at https://www.ccis.northeastern.edu/event/cybersecurity-speaker-series-side-channels-in-multi-tenant-environments/#_ga=2.151371449.1498908976.1536791795-593491830.1457895416
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Sexual Harassment of Women - A Consensus Study Report of NASEM
Tuesday, September 18
3:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, Huntington Hall, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. A Consensus Study Report of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Welcome by MIT President L. Rafael Reif
Panel discussion by:
Sheila Widnall (Report Co-Chair), aerospace researcher and Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paula Johnson (Report Co-Chair), President, Wellesley College
Anita Hill, MIT Research Affiliate, Professor, Brandeis University
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Reinforcement Learning Systems at DeepMind
Tuesday, September 18
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Refreshments: 3:45 PM
MIT, Building 32-D463, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: David Budden , DeepMinds
Abstract: The many recent successes of deep reinforcement learning have resulted from innovation not just in algorithm design, but the co-development of systems capable of scaling to thousands of machines and leveraging specialized hardware.
In this seminar I will cover three topics:
A brief introduction to off-policy reinforcement learning and policy gradient methods
Recent algorithmic improvements underlying the D4PG agent for continuous control and robotics, e.g. distributional RL and prioritized experience replay
Architectures and open research questions in distributing agents across many machines
Constant iteration between algorithm design and systems engineering is a hallmark of the Research Engineering role at DeepMind, and through this seminar I also hope to give a flavor of what this entails day-to-day.
Bio: David Budden is a Research Engineering Team Lead and Tech Lead for DeepMind's Machine Learning team. Before joining DeepMind, he worked as a postdoc in CSAIL with Prof Nir Shavit.
David's research interests include generative models, few-shot imitation and self-supervised learning. His main passion however is the intersection of machine learning research and systems engineering. David prepared and teaches DeepMind's internal training courses on distributed machine learning, and helped develop many of their engineering systems (e.g. Control Suite, ApeX) and state-of-the-art reinforcement learning agents (e.g. D4PG, DQfD).
Contact: Joanne Talbot Hanley, 617-253-6054, joanne@csail.mit.edu
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Mission Zero: Interface's Journey to Zero Negative Environmental Impact
Tuesday, September 18
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building E40-356 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Interface is a leading global commercial flooring company who since 1994 has been on Mission Zero – their promise to eliminate any negative impact the company has on the environment by the year 2020. With 2020 in sight and industry leading progress on their goals, Interface has launched its next audacious mission – Climate Take Back – their goal to run the business in a way that reverses global warming. Interface’s VP of Sustainability for the Americas, Lisa Conway, will share how the billion-dollar public company navigates the pursuit of sustainability while also focusing on the bottom line.
Editorial Comment: I met Ray Anderson, the Interface CEO who began Mission Zero back in the 1990s. It will be good to see what they’ve done since then.
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Polling China: Understanding Public Opinion Across China
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center foyer, 124 Mt Auburn Street, Suite 200 North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Tony Saich, Ash Center Director and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs; Jesse Turiel, a PhD candidate from Boston University; and Ning Leng, Ash Center China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow
COST Free
CONTACT INFO info@ash.harvard.edu
DETAILS Join us for a conversation with Ash Center Director and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs Tony Saich and Jesse Turiel, a Ph.D. candidate from Boston University as they discuss their groundbreaking public opinion survey project in China. Starting in 2003, Saich developed a series of surveys to measure satisfaction with various levels of government in China. Through 2016, the survey project ultimately captured opinion data from 32,000 individual respondents, making it the most ambitious public opinion research project conducted on a nationwide scale to date in China. Ning Leng, Ash Center China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow, will serve as a respondent.
This event is co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
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Impostor Syndrome: Why Capable People Suffer and How to Thrive in Spite of It
Tuesday, September 18
4:30–6 p.m. (doors open at 4 p.m.)
BU, Bakst Auditorium, 72 East Concord Street, Boston
Speaker Valerie Young, Author and Speaker
From CEOs to PhDs to acclaimed actors, millions of people secretly worry they’re not as bright or as capable as they are perceived to be. This is known as the “Impostor Syndrome.” Valerie Young, author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It, will discuss the reasons why accomplished individuals feel as though they are “faking it,” and will provide insight and tools on how to eliminate this thought pattern.
Services for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People Provided
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Augustine's City of God and the Nature of Politics
Tuesday, September 18
5:30pm
MIT Building 1-190, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
A lecture by Prof. Chad Pecknold (Catholic University of America).
A self-described "Augustinian-Thomist," Dr. Chad Pecknold received his PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK) and teaches in the areas of fundamental theology, Christian anthropology, and political theology. Pecknold is the author of a number scholarly articles and books including most recently, Christianity and Politics: A Brief Guide to the History (Cascade 2010) and The T&T Clark Companion to Augustine and Modern Theology (Bloomsbury, 2014). Dr. Pecknold is also a frequent contributor to debates in the public square, writing regular columns for First Things and National Review on a range of topics related to the importance and impact of Church teaching on social and political questions. Dr Pecknold is currently writing a book on Augustine’s City of God.
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Blockchain Technology: Patents vs. Open Source
Tuesday, September 18
5:30pm to 8:30pm
MIT Stata Center, Building 32-124, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Cost: $0 - $20
A new frontier of innovation has arrived with the advent of cryptocurrencies and the myriad of blockchain use cases. Some folks believe open source and patents have no place together. However, both are integral to the commercialization of blockchain technology.
As blockchain continues to be disruptive in a variety of industries, protecting these innovations value becomes essential. However, value means different things to different people. Some value blockchain technology based on the amount of money it can generate or save. Others value the broad adoption of successful blockchain technologies.
Join us and learn from our panel of innovators in the blockchain technology community as they examine the strategies they use to protect the value of their technologies.
Speakers
Sam Abbasi, Partner, The BUSHIDO Lab
Evan Schwartz, Engineer at Ripple, Co-Inventor of the Interledger Protocol
Tom Serres, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Animal Ventures
Christian Wentz, Founder/CEO, Stealth Mode Startup
Moderator
Keegan M. Caldwell, Managing Member and Founder, Caldwell Intellectual Property
Event Schedule
5:30 - 6:00 pm - Registration & networking (light refreshments served)
6:00 - 7:30 pm - Welcome & panel discussion
7:30 - 8:30 pm - Beer, wine & networking @ Meadhall, 90 Broadway, Cambridge
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Boston New Technology Startup Showcase
Tuesday, September 18
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-new-technology-startup-showcase-bnt93-21-tickets-48881981322
Price: $15 - $30
21+. Join Boston New Technology on September 18th at law firm Foley Hoag to:
See 7 innovative and exciting local technology demos, presented by startup founders
Network with 200 attendees from the Boston-area startup/tech community
Enjoy dinner with beer, wine and more
Each company presents an overview and demonstration of their product within 5 minutes and discusses questions with the audience.
Please follow @BostonNewTech and support our startups by posting on social media using our #BNT93 hashtag. We'll retweet you!
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PechaKucha Somerville Presents: Volume 1: Trial & Error
Thursday, September 18
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Remnant Brewing, Bow Market Way, Second Floor, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pechakucha-somerville-presents-volume-1-trial-error-tickets-49597007986
STORIES ON THE BEAUTY OF MAKING MISTAKES
So what IS PechaKucha Night?
PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, vacation snaps --just about anything, really --in the PechaKucha 20x20 (20 slides, 20 seconds each). This concept has been spreading internationally, and this is our opportunity to start the trend in Somerville!
Interested in Presenting? Contact: Meridith Levy at SCC: mlevy@somervillecdc.org
Learn more about our event at:
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Wednesday, September 19
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, September 19
7:30am
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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Doing Capitalism: The Dark Side of the Three-Player Game
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Allison Dining Room (5th Floor Taubman), 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Humanities, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Bill Janeway, author and Senior Advisor and Managing Director, Warburg Pincus
CONTACT INFO Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu
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Deciphering aging: Linking senescence with DNA damage and the cell cycle
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
12 noon Eastern
Webinar
Senescence describes the complex cellular response to stress that includes irreversible arrest of the cell cycle and thus prevention of the proliferation of defective or damaged cells. This effect makes senescence a key component in the body’s tumor suppression response and initialization of repair pathways, providing a health-promoting mechanism. Conversely, senescent cells can accumulate in the affected tissues of persons with age-related diseases such as dementias, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and others—such accumulation is considered a hallmark of aging that drives many age-related pathologies. These seemingly contradictory roles make cellular senescence an interesting research target for developing cancer suppression therapies as well as improving health maintenance and extending the human lifespan.
During this webinar, viewers will:
Gain insight into the processes by which senescent cells contribute to tumor suppression
Understand the impact of senescence on age-related dysfunction and chronic disease, and be introduced to potential therapies targeting
Have the opportunity to ask questions during the live broadcast!
Speaker: Sheila A. Stewart, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Speaker: James L. Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Moderator: Sean Sanders, Ph.D., Science/AAAS, Washington, DC
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Pacific Abyssal Transport and Mixing near the Samoan Passage and Manihiki Plateau
Wednesday, September 19
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915/923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Sack Lunch Seminar Series (SLS) - Larry Pratt
About this Series
The Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Sack Lunch Seminar Series is an informal seminar series within PAOC that focuses on more specialized topics than the PAOC Colloquium. Seminar topics include all research concerning the science of atmosphere, ocean and climate. The seminars usually take place on Wednesdays from 12-1pm in 54-915. The presentations are either given by an invited speaker or by a member of PAOC and can focus on new research or discussion of a paper of particular interest.
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Before the 13th: The Origins of Convict Leasing
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Michael Ralph, Associate Professor, Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU
COST Free and open to the public.
CONTACT INFO hutchevents@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Michael Ralph is associate professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. He is also Director of the Metropolitan Studies program. Michael has published in Disability Studies Quarterly, Souls, Social Text, Public Culture, South Atlantic Quarterly, the Journal of the History of Sport, and Transforming Anthropology. Michael serves on the editorial boards of Sport in Society and Disability Studies Quarterly. He is a member of the Social Text Editorial Collective and the Souls Editorial Working Group. Michael is Editor-in-Chief of Transforming Anthropology, the flagship journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists.
As a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for Fall 2018, he will work on Before 13th: The Origins of Convict
LINK https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/event/colloquium-michael-ralph-13th-origins-convict-leasing
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PICS Seminar: Selecting the Site for Mars Sample Return for the Mars-2020 Rover Mission
Wednesday, September 19
12:30pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building 54-517, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Bethany Ehlmann (Caltech/JPL)
Abstract: Mars Sample Return is a major endeavor, involving a mission of in situ exploration and sample caching and then later missions to bring the samples to Earth. Where to go: Igneous rocks or sedimentary rocks? What type of environment is best to look for ancient life on Mars? Should the search for ancient life be prioritized or understanding planetary evolution? Can we do both? These are the current questions facing the Mars-2020 rover mission, which in October 2018 will hold the final community workshop with a choice between 3 finalist sites: a lake delta, an ancient >3.7 Ga stratigraphy, and possible fumarolic/spring deposits. This informal discussion will briefly introduce the major characteristics of the Mars-2020 rover, its mission, sample return architecture, and the finalist sites. We'll have at least 15 minutes of discussion (hopefully more). Those who might want to analyze samples returned from Mars are especially encouraged to attend.
About the Series
The MIT Planetary Lunch Colloquium Series [PlCS] is a weekly seminar series organized within the EAPS department. Colloquia topics span the range of research interests of the department's planetary sciences research program. The seminars usually take place on Tuesdays from 12-1:30 pm in 54-517 unless otherwise noted (term-time only). Speakers include members of the MIT community and visitors. Talks are intended to appeal to graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty with a background in planetary science. A light lunch is provided.
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Social Impact Investing and Development
Wednesday, September 19
12:30 - 1:45pm
Tufts, Mugar 235, 89-91 Curtis Street, Somerville
By tapping into capital markets, we can achieve some of the world’s most pressing development goals, while simultaneously earning a market return for investors. How? In this seminar we’ll discuss the mechanisms that can bring this about—some of them already deployed today—and also reflect on why it’s so important to move in this direction, and away from traditional philanthropy.
Paul O’Connell is CEO of Sanolas, LLC, a family office based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to founding Sanolas, he spent over 20 years as President and Managing Partner of FDO Partners, LLC, an institutional asset management firm. He has deep experience in the research and practice of international finance, and has published a variety of articles on related topics including exchange rate behavior, international capital flows and labor migration. He served as a member of the Editorial Board of the Emerging Markets Review and a member of the Review Board for the Research Foundation of the CFA Institute. Paul has spoken at TED about using the capital markets to help fund sustainable development in poor countries. He serves on the Boards of Water.org and WaterEquity, Inc., organizations which work to expand access to clean water and sanitation worldwide, and formerly was Chairman of the GAVI Campaign, which is dedicated to expanding vaccine availability in poor countries. An Irish native, he received his B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin in 1992, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1997.
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Igor Istomin: What Drives Russian Foreign Policy?
Wednesday, September 19
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
Tufts, Crowe Room, Goddard 310, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
What drives Russian foreign policy? Please join the Fletcher Eurasia Club for a lunch conversation with Professor Igor Istomin of MGIMO University, who will analyze the logic of Russia's behavior in international politics and discuss the current state of U.S.-Russia relations. Attendance is by registration only on Eventbrite.
Igor A. Istomin is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Analysis of International Issues at MGIMO University. He holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from MGIMO University as well as an undergraduate degree from Saint Petersburg State University. Istomin teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in methods of applied analysis of international affairs. He is an executive editor at International Trends, a leading Russian academic journal. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs, Jilin University in China. Istomin is the author of more than 50 publications on U.S. foreign policy, relations in the Euro-Atlantic space and international security. His most recent book is The Logic of State Behavior in International Politics (2017). He has also prepared policy reports and papers for the Russian International Affairs Council, the Valdai Club,the Center for Strategic Research in Moscow, and the European Leadership Network.
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Gerrymandering: Can Computing Cut the Gordian Knot?
Wednesday, September 19
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
BU School of Law, 15th Floor Faculty Lounge, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP to tgabs@bu.edu
Partisan gerrymandering is an issue that just won't go away for the Supreme Court, but so far they also continue declining to address it definitively. Many had hoped that the "efficiency gap," an arithmetic calculation of partisan imbalance, would be the litmus test that the justices were seeking, but this summer's developments make that seem considerably less likely. At the same time, computing approaches have emerged—specifically the comparison of a districting plan to alternatives neutrally generated by Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms—that take local law, geography, and demography into account.
In this Cyber Alliance talk, Tufts Prof. Moon Duchin will discuss how the process of sussing out what will happen next is a fascinating look at the role of experts, the court's appetite for statistics and technical details, and the scientific community's ability to make models dovetail with normative arguments.
There will be time for casual conversation and light refreshments before and after the presentation.
Editorial Comment: Professor Duchin has been the lead person on the mathematical solutions to gerrymandering for a couple of years now.
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Materials in Energy: From Nano to Macro
Wednesday, September 19
4:00PM TO 5:00PM
Harvard, Room 209, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
with Professor Ju Li, MIT
Li will provide three material examples, reversible Li metal anode in battery [PNAS 115 (2018) 1156], ton-scale radiation-resistant metallic nanocomposite [Advanced Science (2018) 1800115], and thermal shock synthesis of high-entropy-alloy nanoparticle catalysts [Science 359 (2018) 1489], of how fundamental understanding of nanoscale mechanisms can inform and inspire the development of new macroscale materials and devices. Recent advances in nano-manipulation, environmental TEM and MEMS allow us to investigate coupled mechanical and electrochemical phenomena with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. For example, we can now quantitatively characterize liquid-solid and gas-solid interfaces at nm-scale. These experiments greatly complement our modeling efforts, and together they help provide insights into how materials are transformed in synthesis and how they behave in service due to combined electrochemical-mechanical forces. Applying theory, modeling and lab-on-a-chip microscopy, together with cost modeling, can judiciously guide the scalable production of high-performance energy materials.
Speaker Bio: Ju Li is BEA Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. His group (http://Li.mit.edu) performs computational and experimental research on mechanical properties of materials, and energy storage and conversion. Ju obtained a PhD degree in nuclear engineering from MIT in 2000, and Bachelor’s degree in Physics from University of Science and Technology of China in 1994. He was a recipient of the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2006 MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award, and 2007 TR35 award from Technology Review magazine. Ju was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2014 and Fellow of the Materials Research Society in 2017. In 2016, Ju Li co-founded one of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Low-Carbon Energy Centers, the Center for Materials in Energy and Extreme Environments (CME).
Applied Mechanics Colloquium
Contact Name: Jessa Piaia
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3rd Annual Origins Prize Lecture
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Agassiz Theatre, 5 James Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University - Origins of Life
SPEAKER(S) Sara Seager (MIT)
COST Public Lecture
CONTACT INFO Kelly Colbourn-Moreno 617-309-0084
DETAILS Please join us on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 for the third annual Origins Prize Lecture. Professor Sara Seager (MIT) will give a talk entitled "Exoplanets and the Search for Biosignature Gases: An Astronomer's Journey through Chemical Space".
Abstract: Thousands of exoplanets are known to orbit nearby stars and small rocky planets are established to be common. The ambitious goal of searching for “biosignature gases” in a rocky planet atmosphere is within reach. A suitable biosignature gas is not just one that might be produced by life, but one that: can accumulate in an atmosphere against atmospheric radicals and other sinks; has strong atmospheric spectral features; and has limited abiological false positives. The study of biosignature gases, then, becomes one of chemistry. Life on Earth produces thousands of gases, about a quarter of all CHONPS molecules that are in gas form at Earth’s surface temperature and pressure. Which gases might be potential biosignature gases in an as yet unknown range of exoplanetary environments? In trying to answer this question, we stumbled across a fascinating concept in chemical space—--distinctive “gaps” amidst the vast diversity of the chemistry of life on Earth. We embarked on a journey to understand why life avoids certain specific chemical classes of molecules that are chemically flexible, stable, and have wide chemical and structural functionality. I will describe and provide a hypothesis for two of life’s gaps in chemical space. The study of both biosignature gases in context with their planetary environment and investigation of Earth life’s avoidance of certain chemicals may provide fresh insight into life’s evolution through chemical space.
Reception to follow.
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Think You Know the American Electorate?
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200N, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Laura Quinn, President of Catalist, Ash Center Practice Fellow in American Democracy
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Info@ash.harvard.edu
DETAILS Join Laura Quinn, President of Catalist, Ash Center Practice Fellow in American Democracy, for a discussion about her research on new and emerging trends in the American electorate.
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Women Waging Peace
Wednesday, September 19
5:00pm to 6:30pm
Northeastern, Renaissance_Park, 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
Dr. Malcolm Potts, MD, PhD, Professor of the Graduate School, Public Health, University of California Berkeley, will be speaking at the first event in the “Us vs. Them: Taming the Biology of Otherness” speaker series.
Q&A session for this event will be lead by Dr. Neil Maniar, Professor of Public Health Practice and the Director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University.
More information at https://cssh.northeastern.edu/internationalcenter/event/women-waging-peace/
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STH Distinguished Alumni Panel: The Three Greatest Challenges Facing Us In the Next Decade
Wednesday, September 19
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
BU, 1 Silber Way, Trustee Lounge, 9th floor, Boston
Join our STH Distinguished Alums and moderator, Teddy Hickman-Maynard, for a discussion about "The Three Greatest Challenges Facing Us In the Next Decade."
The 2018 School of Theology Distinguished Alums are:
Reverend Laura Jaquith Bartlett (STH 1988, M.S.M.; STH 1990, S.T.M.)
Reverend Dr. Jerome K. Del Pino (STH 1971, Th.M.; GRS 1980, Ph.D.)
Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart (STH 1978, M.Div.)
In the category of Emerging Leader:
Dr. David Scott (STH 2007, M.T.S.; GRS 2013, Ph.D.)
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A Foreign Policy Conversation with U.S. Congressman Joaquín Castro
Wednesday, September 19
5:30 PM
Tufts, ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Center, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
Join Tisch College and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy for an evening conversation with U.S. Congressman Joaquín Castro (D-TX20) on public service and foreign policy. A third-term Congressman and former member of the Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Castro sits on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees and is First Vice Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Rep. Castro also serves as Chief Deputy Whip and is a member of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Rep. Castro is also founding co-chair of the Congressional Pre-K Caucus and the U.S.-Japan Caucus, and the Congressional Caucus on ASEAN. Castro also hosts Diplomatic Cable, a foreign policy podcast.
Cosponsored by the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and the Tisch College of Civic Life. Follow the conversation live at #RepCastroAtTufts
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The Lust for Land and the Roots of King Philip's War
Wednesday, September 19
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street, Boston
King Philip’s War (1675-1678) was the largest conflict of 17th-century New England and resulted in mass casualties to both Native nations and English settlers. Underlying the conflict was the English drive towards colonizing Native lands, but in this insightful presentation, we’ll go beyond the usual facts and figures to hear individual people’s stories. We’ll visit people at every level of early New England’s hierarchies: from Puritan merchants to Harvard-educated Native scholars to Indigenous women leaders, we’ll see how their status played a role in their decisions. We’ll also hear the dramatic saga of the captive Mary Rowlandson in this fascinating talk on the origin, conflicts, resolution, and legacy of King Philip’s War.
The venue for the event, St. Paul’s Cathedral, also has roots in the 17th century. It was built partially on land owned in the 1670s by John Wampus, a member of Nipmuc tribe who one of the first natives to attend Harvard College.
An RSVP for this event is requested but not required.
About the speaker
Lisa Brooks is Professor of English and American Studies at Amherst College and the author of Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War (Yale University Press 2018). Her first book, The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast (University of Minnesota Press, 2008), received the Media Ecology Association's Dorothy Lee Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Culture in 2011. Deeply rooted in her Abenaki homeland, Brooks’s work has been widely influential in Indigenous Studies and in Early American literature and history. In 2009, Brooks was elected to the inaugural Council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), and from 2013-17, she was Chair of the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies Program. She has long served on the Advisory Board of Gedakina, an Indigenous-led non-profit organization focused on cultural revitalization, youth and family empowerment, and traditional ecological knowledge in New England.
About the event series
Every fall, in honor of the naming of Boston, the Partnership of Historic Bostons hosts a series of free events exploring an intriguing aspect of Puritan life. This year’s theme is From Theology to Commerce: the First Three Generations of 17th-century Boston.
To see a list of the entire series of FREE events, please visit http://historicbostons.eventbrite.com
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Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist
Wednesday, September 19
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and Facing History welcome Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist ELI SASLOW for a discussion of his latest book, Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist.
About Rising Out of Hatred
Derek Black grew up at the epicenter of white nationalism. His father founded Stormfront, the largest racist community on the Internet. His godfather, David Duke, was a KKK Grand Wizard. By the time Derek turned nineteen, he had become an elected politician with his own daily radio show - already regarded as the "the leading light" of the burgeoning white nationalist movement. "We can infiltrate," Derek once told a crowd of white nationalists. "We can take the country back."
Then he went to college. Derek had been home-schooled by his parents, steeped in the culture of white supremacy, and he had rarely encountered diverse perspectives or direct outrage against his beliefs. At New College of Florida, he continued to broadcast his radio show in secret each morning, living a double life until a classmate uncovered his identity and sent an email to the entire school. "Derek Black...white supremacist, radio host...New College student???"
The ensuing uproar overtook one of the most liberal colleges in the country. Some students protested Derek's presence on campus, forcing him to reconcile for the first time with the ugliness of his beliefs. Other students found the courage to reach out to him, including an Orthodox Jew who invited Derek to attend weekly Shabbat dinners. It was because of those dinners--and the wide-ranging relationships formed at that table--that Derek started to question the science, history, and prejudices behind his worldview. As white nationalism infiltrated the political mainstream, Derek decided to confront the damage he had done.
Rising Out of Hatred tells the story of how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek's story can tell us about America's increasingly divided nature. This is a book to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another.
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GRAND CANYON FOR SALE: Public Land versus Private Interest?
Wednesday, September 19
7pm
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Stephen Nash, science and environmental writer laments the fact that America's public lands "will tumble away" unless people act!
Nash will discuss the precarious future facing our national parks, monuments and wilderness with Michael Brune, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Bruce is urging everyone to get active and sign up to "Protect America from Trump" https://www.sierraclub.org.
Given the prospect that climate change will dislocate wildlife populations and vegetation across hundreds of thousands of square miles of the national landscape, what if anything, can we do about it? Come find out…
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Thursday, September 20, 6:00 PM – Saturday, September 22, 4:00 PM EDT
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Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon
Thursday, September 20, 6:00 PM – Saturday, September 22, 4:00 PM EDT
Harvard Center for Government and International Studies, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/slums-new-visions-for-an-enduring-global-phenomenon-tickets-48069834168
There are very few signs that slums will transition out of the urban landscape in the foreseeable future. Even after more than one and a half centuries of policy interventions, starting from the effects of industrialization in Europe, slums persist in almost every geography on the planet. Slums are not only visible in the Global South, but are reappearing in old and new manifestations in the Global North. Their persistence can be linked to a number of political and economic failures to effectively address poverty and inequality, distorted land markets, and systemic social exclusion. These failures are, in turn, rooted in the very way policymakers, global media, and intellectuals conceptualize and represent how, why, and by whom slums are produced, maintained, and reproduced. Slums continue to be imagined as urban aberrations, something that falls outside of (or delinked from) urban ecologies.
Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon is a symposium being held at the Harvard Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts from September 20-22, 2018, that challenges its participants to discuss the range of perceptions and systemic changes needed to re-imagine integrative urban and social landscapes, as well as the labor and land markets that most often underpin the formation of slums. Organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the symposium seeks to advance new policy, financial, design, and educational tools that both improve existing slums and generate alternatives to future ones.
A diverse group of academic, policy, design & media experts, and community representatives will bridge historically siloed narratives about slums and discuss innovative ways to address them.
Confirmed speakers include:
Jose Baravelli, Tereza Architechture and Urbanism
Somsook Boonyabancha, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
Martha Chen, Harvard Kennedy School and WIEGO
Michael Cohen, The New School
Alejandro de Castro Mazarro, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (2019)
Fernando de Mello, URBEM Institute of Urbanism and Studies for the Metropolis
Alejandro Echeverri, Center for Urban and Environmental Studies of EAFIT University; Former Loeb Fellow
Brodwyn Fischer, University of Chicago
George Galster, Wayne State University
Sumila Gulyani, The World Bank
Alejandro Haiek Coll, LAB.PRO.FAB
Christopher Herbert and David Luberoff, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Flávio Higuchi Hirao, Usina Centro de Trabalho para o Ambiente Habitado
Jorge Francisco Liernur, University Torcuato di Tella
Ranjani Mazumdar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
George McCarthy, Robin Hacke, Enrique Silva and Martin O. Smolka, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Rahul Mehrotra, Harvard Graduate School of Design and RMA Architects
Sheela Patel, Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres
Janice Perlman, The Mega-Cities Project
Edgar Pieterse, African Centre for Cities
Lyvia Rodriguez, Executive Director, El Cano Martin Pena ENLACE Project
Michael Uwemedimo, University of Roehampton and Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform
Charlotte Vorms, University of Paris
Peter Ward and Jake Wegmann, University of Texas at Austin
Theresa Williamson, Catalytic Communities
Nicholas You and M. Lorena Zárate, Global Business Alliance
The symposium will be held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Harvard Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS). It starts on the evening of Thursday, September 20, with a keynote about the representation of slums in film and media at the Harvard GSD and continues on Friday and Saturday, September 21 and 22 at CGIS with full days of presentations and discussions.
For the complete agenda and additional information, please visit the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies website.
Co-sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Loeb Fellowship, and The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute.
Join the conversation on Twitter with #SlumsNewVisions
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Thursday, September 20
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Sustainability Festival
Thursday, September 20
11:00am - 2:30pm
BU, Marsh Plaza, 735 Commonwealth Avenue
Join #BUcityplanning for the 2018 Sustainability Festival at the Charles River Campus where we'll be playing games to test your sustainability knowledge and giving away prizes! Connect with leaders of the BU Environmental Leadership Network—24 clubs, from Net Impact to BU Outing Club. Swap your light bulbs for an LED or get a travel coffee mug for free. Join the Challenge to reduce your environmental footprint; buzz your actions and you could win some great prizes! Bike & Pedestrian Safety: Register your bike or get a free “Ride Ready” safety check by local bike mechanics. Lots of free swag including helmets, lights, and other biking gear. And enter for your chance to win a bike and other great prizes.
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The planet on our plates: The case for incorporating sustainability into dietary guidelines
Thursday, September 20
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Multi-purpose Room, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford
Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
The foods we eat can have vastly different impacts on the natural environment. National governments commonly provide recommendations to their populations on what ought to be eaten to promote health. These dietary guidelines are an opportunity to promote human and earth system health simultaneously. To date, a small number of countries have incorporated environmental considerations into their dietary guidelines. In the USA, the scientific committee that developed the latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans attempted to include sustainability, but it was ultimately excluded from the final policy. This talk will cover the environmental impacts of foods, the potential role dietary guidance can play in moving food systems toward sustainability, and a case example from the United States.
Dr. Nicole Tichenor Blackstone is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Agriculture, Food, and Environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Prior to joining the Friedman School faculty this summer, Nicole was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating strategies to improve food system sustainability. Some of her recent projects include modeling the environmental impacts of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, quantifying the environmental and nutritional costs of food waste, and estimating regional self-reliance and environmental impacts
of livestock in Northeastern US. Nicole earned her Ph.D. and M.S. from the Friedman School. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Kansas. Nicole also has experience in food policy spanning the local to national levels, through previous work with the Douglas County Food Policy Council (KS) and National Family Farm Coalition.
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Get Involved: Enter the Digital Universe of Your Tween/Teen
Thursday, September 20
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building 76-156, 500 Main Street, Cambridge
Presenter: Jill Walsh, Ph.D., M.P.A.; Researcher and Lecturer, Boston University
It’s no secret that digital technology and social media have an impact on our tweens and teens. But in what ways and to what effects? Why are they always on their phones? And what exactly is going on with Fortnite?
This seminar will outline the landscape of tween and teen digital media use, and provide insights for parents trying to navigate this world with them. Parents will leave understanding what draws their children to the digital space, and how to engage in productive conversations about technology consumption.
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Displacement Research & Action Network (DRAN) Social
Thursday, September 20
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The Displacement Research & Action Network, an initiative of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at MIT, is a global network on displacement and land rights that brings together activists, academics and policy makers to build new theory and evidence of the increase and intensity of mass internal displacement around the world due to development, conflict, or climate disaster.
On Thursday 20th September from 12:30pm to 2pm in 9-450 and find out about DRAN's projects and opportunities for engagement!
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MIT Press Essential Knowledge Book Launch: Carbon Capture
Thursday, September 20
3:00pm
MIT, Building E18-304, 50 Ames Street, Cambridge
Refreshments will be served; RSVP to Kelley Travers at ktravers@mit.edu to help us plan accordingly.
Please join us Thursday, September 20th at 3 p.m. in E18-304 for a presentation by Howard Herzog, Senior Research Engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, on his new MIT Press Essential Knowledge series book, Carbon Capture. His book offers a concise guide to carbon capture, covering basic information as well as the larger context of climate technology and policy. For the full book description, please see below.
The first 30 individuals to arrive at the talk will receive free copies of the book. Herzog will be available for signing after the presentation.
Book Description:
A concise overview of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), a promising but overlooked climate change mitigation pathway.
The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2), and these CO2 emissions are a major driver of climate change. Carbon capture offers a path to climate change mitigation that has received relatively little attention. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Howard Herzog offers a concise guide to carbon capture, covering basic information as well as the larger context of climate technology and policy. Carbon capture, or carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), refers to a suite of technologies that reduce CO2 emissions by “capturing” CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere and then transporting it to where it will be stored or used. It is the only climate change mitigation technique that deals directly with fossil fuels rather than providing alternatives to them.
Herzog, a pioneer in carbon capture research, begins by discussing the fundamentals of climate change and how carbon capture can be one of the solutions. He explains capture and storage technologies, including chemical scrubbing and the injection of CO2 deep underground. He reports on current efforts to deploy CCS at factories and power plants and attempts to capture CO2 from the air itself. Finally, he explores the policies and politics in play around CCS and argues for elevating carbon capture in the policy agenda.
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Playing to the Crowd (Leading Voices Speaker Series)
Thursday, September 20
3:00pm to 4:30pm
Northeastern, Ryder Hall, 433, 11 Leon Street, Boston
Nancy Baym (Principal Researcher, Microsoft) discusses her new book Playing to the Crowd, about how advancements in digital media and communication have transformed musician-fan relationships - with insights relevant for any industry touched by social media and the gig economy.
The Leading Voices speaker series brings practitioners and scholars at the forefront of their fields to campus to discuss their work and experiences in music. Visit the Department of Music events calendar for upcoming Leading Voices speaker series events, which take place select Thursdays 3-4:30pm: https://camd.northeastern.edu/music/events/
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OEB Seminar Series - "Consilience, Model Lineages, and A Truly Integrative Phylogenetic Biology"
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall (1080), 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Erika Edwards, Yale University
TICKET INFO Free and Open to the Public
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Populism and the Future of Liberal Democracy in the West - A Lecture by Sheri Berman
Thursday, September 20
4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, 1st floor, Boston
This talk will analyze various explanations for growing dissatisfaction with liberal democracy and rising populism in the West. It will discuss some of the main causes put forward by scholars and pundits, assess the evidence for these various causes, and suggest some ways the research agenda and our understandings of these crucial phenomena can move forward.
Sheri Berman is a professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her research interests include European history and politics; the development of democracy; populism and fascism; and the history of the left.
Moderated by Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Europe at Boston University.
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'Circle Up' Film Screening and Discussion
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 4 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, 2036 Milstein East B, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School
COST free
DETAILS Please join us as we launch this year’s Transformative Justice Series of events organized in partnership with the Prison Studies Project and the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Office of Student Affairs. Through interdisciplinary conversations across Harvard University and beyond, we explore justice that transforms—our selves, our relationships, and our communities.
Our first event is a screening of the documentary film "Circle Up," the story of a grieving mother, the men who murdered her son, and the unexpected relationships they create to prevent more violence. Circle Up is a call to action for reframing approaches to crime and punishment through the lens of restorative justice, forgiveness, and accountability.
Following the screening, audience members will have an opportunity to apply some of the principles of restorative justice through circle discussions about the film facilitated by HGSE Equity and Inclusion Fellows.
In attendance will be filmmaker Julie Mallozzi and restorative justice practitioner — and subject of the film — Janet Connors.
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BlueTech New England: Innovating Oceans & Waterfronts with Cutting-Edge Tech
Thursday, September 20
4:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Cambridge Innovation C Venture Cafe, One Broadway, 5th Floor, Cambridge
Is bluetech the next big tech cluster to launch in Boston? The maritime economy is a significant economic driver in New England.
In Massachusetts alone, it generated a total statewide economic impact of $17.336 billion in output (sales), 135,924 jobs, and $6.839 billion in labor income in 2015. Given the role of this ‘blue economy’ on the region and Greater Boston’s tech prowess, there is a tremendous opportunity to take the lead in innovating oceans and waterfronts.
Venture Cafe presents: BlueTech New England - Bringing Innovative Tech to Oceans and Waterfronts ( http://vencaf.org/bluetech/ )
This is a Free Event and also must Register here : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bluetech-night-tickets-48652768741
The BlueTech Night event will bring technologists, scientists, startups, corporations, governments and other ocean stakeholders to discuss building this new cluster by applying innovative tech like robotics, sensors, AR / VR and others to improve ocean sustainability, coastal resiliency, and the urban coast’s environmental footprint.
AGENDA AT A GLANCE
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM Introduction to BlueTech
Details coming soon.
4:45 PM – 5:45 PM Opportunities to Innovate in BlueTech
Details coming soon.
6:00 PM – 7:15 PM BlueTech Shark Tank
Are you building innovative tech in robotics, sensors, AR / VR that could be applied to ocean sustainability, coastal resiliency, or improving the urban coast’s environmental footprint?
Apply to pitch investors funding in the BlueTech space.
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM BlueTech Reverse Pitch & Industry Break-Outs
Details coming soon.
Complete details coming soon!
What is BlueTech?
The Blue Economy encompasses the economic and intrinsic values generated in and around the ocean. It includes sectors such as fishing & aquaculture, ports and shipping, offshore energy generation, and ocean science. The OECD estimates the size of the global Blue Economy (excluding offshore oil and gas) to be >$1T.
With nearly 40% of humanity living within 100 km of the ocean, the rise of the global middle class, and a world population moving toward 9 billion, mankind’s demand from and impact on the world’s oceans are becoming more acute.
The Blue Economy sectors outlined below represent areas where focused investment will have both strong economic and societal impact. Increasing global awareness and new policies centered on ocean sustainability, combined with advances in technology and digitization now present a double bottom line opportunity that we call bluetech. Many of these opportunities are a result of applying innovations made for other fields, such as data science, robotics, and service business models, into undercapitalized blue economy industries.
A few statistics can illustrate the opportunity:
90% of all global trade is transported by vessel
~3 billion people depend on seafood as a primary source of protein
Near-term potential for 15 GW of new offshore wind power development off the US East Coast
8M tons/yr of plastic are dumped in the ocean
Ship owners will spend >$50B on new systems for preventing transmission of invasive species
The Ports of LA and Long Beach announced spending of $6-13B to reduce emissions
Given the importance that the blue economy has for humanity, there is now an enormous opportunity for cross fertilization of recent technical advances from adjacent industries. Innovations in areas such as robotics and sensors could be leveraged to improve ocean sustainability, coastal resiliency and the urban coast’s environmental footprint. From data science to VR/AR and materials development, enabling technologies have the potential to revolutionize this sector.
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Let Me Be Frank: The Traitorous Turnabout of an Evangelical Heir Apparent
Thursday, September 20
5pm-6:30pm
BU Admissions Auditorium, 233 Bay State Road
Let Me Be Frank: The Traitorous Turnabout of an Evangelical Heir Apparent movie screening followed by panel discussion with Nancy Ammerman, Brandon Crowley, and Shelly Rambo will moderate
Frank, the son of influential Evangelicals Francis and Edith Schaeffer, was a filmmaker, writer, speaker and an architect of the religious right in the 1970s. Underneath the exterior of aggressive religiosity, and expected to follow in his famous family’s footsteps, his life was in turmoil. To the surprise of the religious establishment, Frank didn’t step up. He stepped away. This event is free and open to the public. Reception following.
Tune in to watch the panel following the documentary at https://livestream.com/accounts/4958196/events/8360407
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Thomas Allen Harris: “Collective Wisdom” Keynote
Thursday, September 20
5:00pm to 6:50pm
MIT, Building E15, Bartos Theater (Lower Level), 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Thomas Allen Harris is a critically acclaimed, interdisciplinary artist who explores conceptions of family, identity, environmentalism, and spirituality in a participatory practice. Graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Biology and the Whitney Independent Study Program, member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and published writer/curator, Harris lectures widely on the use of media as a tool for social change with a keen recognition for its potential to organize social movements and impact the biological body. He currently holds a position at Yale University as a Senior Lecturer in African American and Film & Media Studies, where he is teaching courses titled “Family Narratives/Cultural Shifts” and “Archive Aesthetics and Community Storytelling”. He is also working on a new television show, Family Pictures USA, which takes a radical look at neighborhoods and cities of the United States through the lens of family photographs, collaborative performances, and personal testimony sourced from their communities.
Family Pictures USA uses methodologies Harris and his team developed with Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, LLC (DDFR), a socially engaged transmedia project that has incorporated community organizing, performance, virtual gathering spaces, and storytelling into over 60 unique audio-visual events in over 50 cities. Harris will talk about his trajectory as a media artist that led to DDFR and his documentary film work, including Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People, his 2015 film that was developed in tandem with DDFR. Through A Lens Darkly features leading Black cultural figures, scholars, and photographers sharing their archives with Harris in an exploration of the ways photography has been used as a tool of representation and self-representation in history, garnering an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary film, the Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award, and an Africa Movie Academy Award, among others.
In conversation with MIT Professor Vivek Bald, Harris will reveal his process, experiences, and unexpected outcomes working with communities in online and offline shared spaces and places. Immediately following a Q&A, participants will be invited to share images that represent their conceptions of family and engage in a collaborative workshop highlighting the impact of new technologies in community archiving practices.
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PTC & MassChallenge Oktoberfest Party and Tech Showcase
Thursday, September 20
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
19 Dry Dock Avenue, Boston
Hang on to your lederhosen – it’s the 3rd annual Oktoberfest Party and Tech Showcase! Get your oompah on courtesy of PTC and the MassChallenge.
Join us in the Seaport for this FREE networking event where you'll:
Enjoy Oktoberfest delights like beer, sausages, and fresh, soft pretzels
Showcase your strength in the stein-hoisting competition with awesome prizes
Meet the best IoT & AR entrepreneurs from the MassChallenge 2018 cohort and alumni
Network with the doers and makers from PTC’s vibrant ecosystem of partners and developers, along with MassChallenge’s alumni, sponsors, and partners
Get hands on with the interactive IoT and Augmented Reality experiences
NOTE:
This event is 21+ and has limited capacity. Registration is required to attend. Register now to secure your ticket
Event is free of any charges – ALL food, beverage, and entertainment are included.
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Gitner Family CAS Lecture: The Opioid Crisis from a Humanist's Perspective
Thursday, September 20
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
BU, Law Auditorium, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
This year’s Gitner Family Lecture will be a panel, “The Opioid Crisis from a Humanist’s Perspective,” featuring faculty from BU’s departments of history, philosophy, and English departments and covering three aspects of the crisis: markets, ethics, and narratives.The panelists will speak for ten minutes each, and then the moderator, Dr. Richard Saitz, BMC, BUSPH, will provide a summarizing frame before opening to questions from the audience.
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Jeanne S. Chall Lecture and Reception - Teaching Readers, Not Reading: Addressing Students' Individual Differences
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 5:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Askwith Hall, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Lecture, Reception
TOPIC Literacy
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME Roger Falcon
CONTACT EMAIL events@gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE 617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED No
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture
DETAILS Please RSVP to assist us in planning for attendance numbers.
Teaching Readers, Not Reading: Addressing Students’ Individual Differences
Speaker: Peter Afflerbach, professor, College of Education, University of Maryland
Introduction: Alex Hodges, librarian and director, Monroe C. Gutman Library, HGSE; chair, Jeanne S. Chall Endowment Advisory Board
In this talk, Afflerbach focuses on the myriad individual differences that operate both in children’s reading development and in their acts of reading. Reading and reading development are influenced by cognitive, affective, and conative factors, but approaches to reading instruction often have exclusive focus on the first factor. Afflerbach makes the case for attending to all aspects of students’ reading development, using research from diverse and affiliated fields. This brings us to a perspective that allows us to consider teaching readers, and not teaching reading.
Following Dr. Afflerbach's lecture will be an award presentation of the Jeanne S. Chall Doctoral Student Award to Shireen Al-Adeimi, Ed.M.’16, Ed.D.’18.
A reception from 7–8 p.m. will conclude the event.
Funded through HGSE’s Jeanne S. Chall Endowment, the annual lecture and doctoral student award honor the late Jeanne Chall, who served as a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her seminal work on reading research and instruction influenced scholarship on the teaching of reading in schools and universities throughout the country.
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authors@MIT: Mark Stuart Day, Bits to Bitcoin
Thursday, September 20
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building N50, MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join the MIT Bookstore in welcoming Mark Stuart Day to discuss his book, Bits to Bitcoin: How Our Digital Stuff Works.
In Bits to Bitcoin, Mark Stuart Day offers an accessible guide to our digital infrastructure, explaining the basics of operating systems, networks, security, and other topics for the general reader. He takes the reader from a single process to multiple processes that interact with each other; he explores processes that fail and processes that overcome failures; and he examines processes that attack each other or defend themselves against attacks.
Mark Stuart Day was Chief Scientist at Riverbed Technology for a decade and is currently Visiting Lecturer at MIT. With more than thirty patented inventions, he has also made technical contributions at Dropbox, IBM, Cisco, Digital, and BBN.
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Congress’ Role in Trump Era Foreign Policy
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Joaquin Castro, Nicholas Burns (Moderator)
CONTACT INFO IOP Forum Office, 617-495-1380
DETAILS A Conversation with: Joaquin Castro, Member of Congress (D-TX, 20)
Nicholas Burns (Moderator)
Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/forum/congress’-role-trump-era-foreign-policy
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Breakpoint: Reckoning with America’s Environmental Crises
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Museum of Natural History
SPEAKER(S) Jeremy Jackson, Emeritus Professor of Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Senior Scientist Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
COST Visit hmnh.harvard.edu for cost details
CONTACT INFO (617) 495-3045, hmnh@hmsc.harvard.edu
DETAILS Mounting environmental crises — extreme weather events, uncontrollable fires, rising sea levels, droughts, and unsustainable agriculture — are pushing America toward a series of alarming environmental and economic breaking points. Jeremy Jackson will examine the country’s current environmental destruction and highlight both successful and failed attempts by communities to achieve greater environmental stability. With a call to action, he will offer achievable solutions — and optimism — for tackling this multidimensional challenge.
Presentation will be followed by a discussion with Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School; John Holdren, Harvard Kennedy School; and Daniel Schrag, Harvard University Center for the Environment.
Lecture, Discussion & Book Signing.
Visit hmnh.harvard.edu for event details
Free parking at the Oxford Street Garage
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard University Center for the Environment
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Reception: Teresita Fernández — Wayfinding
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Exhibitions
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Art Museums
COST Free admission, but seating is limited.
TICKET INFO Free admission, but seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed beginning at 5:30pm at the Broadway entrance. One ticket per person.
CONTACT INFO phone: 617-495-9400
e-mail: am_info@harvard.edu
DETAILS Teresita Fernández: Wayfinding
In connection with her public installation in Harvard Yard this fall, Autumn (. . . Nothing Personal), artist Teresita Fernández will discuss her practice and ongoing research for this major commission by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts.
On view August 27 through October 1, 2018, Autumn (. . . Nothing Personal) is a site-specific work built for Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard. The title references James Baldwin’s 1964 text Nothing Personal, which was published as a collaborative book with photographer Richard Avedon at the height of the civil rights movement. Fernández’s project centers Baldwin’s text as a collective reading and asks members of the Harvard and local communities to use the sculpture as a social space to read, perform, gather, and debate.
Best known for her prominent public installations, Fernández has produced site-specific commissions for Madison Square Park, New York; Grace Farms, New Canaan, Connecticut; Aspen Art Museum; Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin; and Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. Her work is featured in numerous international public and private collections, including the Harvard Art Museums; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Appointed by President Barack Obama, Fernández was the first Latina to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a 100-year-old federal panel that advises the president and Congress on national matters of design and aesthetics. She was a 2005 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and has received numerous awards, including the Aspen Award for Art in 2013, the 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award in 1999. In 2017, Fernández was named a National Academician by the National Academy Museum and School, New York. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Presented by the Harvard Art Museums in partnership with the Harvard University Committee on the Arts.
Autumn (. . . Nothing Personal) is a commission of the Harvard University Committee on the Arts and was made possible with the support of the Johnson-Kulukundis Family President’s Fund for Arts at Harvard University.
The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30pm.
Free admission, but seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed beginning at 5:30pm at the Broadway entrance. One ticket per person.
Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.
Support for the lecture is provided by the M. Victor Leventritt Fund, which was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and Greater Boston communities.
Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.
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Resilient Places + People
Thursday, September 20
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Rabb Hall, Lower Level, Johnson Building, Boston
An open space vision for Boston’s future
“Breathing Room: Mapping Boston’s Green Spaces,” an exhibition now on view at the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, presents an array of historical maps that display Boston’s great tradition of understanding open space as a vital resource for the city and for the region. These 19th century green spaces by the first American landscape architects were created to be functional and beautiful and endure as beloved parks today; landscapes that create wonderful individual moments and work in a system. Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace cleaned a polluted river and famously created a connected series of neighborhood parks in so doing, and is still a model for cities near and far. Charles Eliot’s 1893 “Map of the Metropolitan District of Boston” looked to the region, laying out a vision for natural “reservations,” policy, and funding that crossed municipal boundaries. This vision established Revere Beach, Middlesex Fells, and the Blue Hills (among others); today’s DCR and the Trustees, and together restored a variety of New England natural areas, offering an antidote to Boston’s explosive 19th century growth. In partnership with the Leventhal Center, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and NBBJ are hosting a conversation to discuss and debate what our priorities should be as we build upon this legacy and look ahead.
Access. Equity. Climate Change. As Boston grapples with the pressing issues of our time, it is essential to recognize the critical role landscape plays in the creation of resilient places. Boston is experiencing higher seas, warmer temperatures, and stronger storms. As they accommodate more water and heat, today’s landscapes must be both functional and beautiful.
The direct connection between health and access to green space has been clearly demonstrated, too. Carefully designed open spaces promote well-being that, in turn, help citizens become resilient. How can we integrate public health policy and design to encourage urban resilience and ensure the benefits of outdoor space are maximized?
Is it time for a Sapphire Necklace?
Christopher Cook, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space & Parks Commissioner, City of Boston, will welcome our speakers. The discussion will be moderated by Dante Ramos, Ideas editor at The Boston Globe.
Panelists include: Kalila Barnett, Climate Resilience Program Officer, Barr Foundation • Bryna Lipper, Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and former Senior Vice President, Chief Resilience Advisor, and Cofounder, 100 Resilient Cities, Rockefeller Foundation • Chris Reed, ASLA, Founder and Director, Stoss Landscape Urbanism; Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design • Brian Swett, Director, Cities and Sustainable Real Estate, Arup • Ellen Watts, AIA, Principal and Co-Founder, Architerra, Inc.
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Synaptic Stories
Thursday, September 20
6:00pm to 8:30pm
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost: $5
Join us for a night of storytelling as we delve into the deepest realms of the mind, wade through our internal wiring, and discover what makes us unique. Hear stories of research, learning, mice, movies, tumors and tapioca pudding, all made possible by the power of our beautiful brains.
Light refreshments will be served
6:00 p.m. Doors open for viewing of Beautiful Brain exhibit
7:00 p.m. Stories begin
This program is presented in partnership with Radius and the MIT Women’s League, and is presented in conjunction with The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
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Making Robots Behave: Doing for our robots what nature did for us
Thursday, September 20
6:30 - 8pm
Aeronaut, 14 Tyler Street, Somerville
Dr Leslie Kaelbling
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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MIT Energy Club Kickoff 2018
Thursday, September 20
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
MIT, 222 Memorial Drive, Memorial Lobby (Lobby 10), Cambridge
Get involved with the largest club on campus and learn about the different resources available to energy-interested students. Talk one-on-one with students from the Energy Club's communities and flagship events about how you can expand your presence in the energy field beyond the classroom.
Learn more about the MIT Energy Club’s communities, flagship events, different opportunities offered to students, and how you can get involved as a club member!
Free food and friendly faces :)
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Ranjani Mazumdar, “The Cinematic Slum"
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 20, 2018, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Conferences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Graduate School of Design
SPEAKER(S) Ranjani Mazumdar, Professor of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
CONTACT INFO Anyone requiring accessibility accommodations should contact the events office at (617) 496-2414 or events@gsd.harvard.edu.
DETAILS Please join us for a keynote lecture by Ranjani Mazumdar, Professor of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Drawing on works from different geographies and periods, this critical analysis of the representation of slums in film and music, will reflect upon the cultural construction and perceptions of slums that lie at the center of the conference.
With commentary by Janice Perlman, President, The Mega-Cities Project and Brodwyn Fisher, Professor of Latin American History, University of Chicago. The discussion will be moderated by George "Mac" McCarthy, President and CEO, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
This presentation is part of Slums: New Visions for an Enduring Global Phenomenon, a symposium being held at Harvard University from Sept. 20-22, 2018 that will challenge participants to discuss the range of perceptions and systemic changes needed to re-imagine integrative urban and social landscapes, as well as the labor and land markets that most often underpin the formation of slums. Organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Design Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy., the symposium seeks to advance new policy, financial, design, and educational tools that can both improve existing slums and generate alternatives to future ones.
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Viewing of the movie Chasing Coral, followed by panel discussion
Thursday, September 20
6:30pm - 9pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX
Panelists:
James W. Porter, Professor of Ecology, Emeritus, University of Georgia, and Scientific Advisor and Principal Cast Member, Chasing Coral
Zackery Rago, Youth Outreach Manager, Exposure Labs’ Chasing Coral Impact Campaign
William S. Spitzer, Ph.D., Vice President, Programs, Exhibits, and Planning, New England Aquarium
The Peabody and Sundance Award-winning film Chasing Coral taps into the collective will and wisdom of an ad man, a self-proclaimed coral nerd, top-notch camera designers, and renowned marine biologists as they invent the first time-lapse camera to record bleaching events as they happen. Unfortunately, the effort is anything but simple, and the team doggedly battles technical malfunctions and the force of nature in pursuit of their holy grail: documenting the indisputable and tragic transformation below the waves. With its breathtaking photography, nail-biting suspense, and startling emotion, Chasing Coral is a dramatic revelation that won’t have audiences sitting idle for long.
The runtime for the movie is 93 minutes to be followed by a 30-minute panel discussion.
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Social Media Panel Online vs Reality
Thursday, September 20
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
The Spot Boston, 437 Boylston Street, 3rd Floor, Boston
Listen to Anthony Quintal and Maddie Dragsbaek speak out about what its like living your life online and how it differs from reality.
THIS IS A FREE EVENT
DOORS: 6:30PM /// SHOW 7PM
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Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times
Thursday, September 20
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes National Magazine Award–winning writer MARK LEIBOVICH—bestselling author of This Town—for a discussion of his latest book, Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times.
About Big Game
Like millions of Americans, Mark Leibovich has spent more of his life tuned into pro football than he'd care to admit. Being a lifelong New England Patriots fan meant growing up on a steady diet of lovable loserdom. That is, until the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era made the Pats the most ruthlessly efficient and polarizing sports dynasty of the modern NFL, and its fans the most irritating in all of Pigskin America. Leibovich kept his obsession quiet, making a nice career for himself covering that other playground for rich and overgrown children, American politics. Still, every now and then Leibovich would reach out to Tom Brady to gauge his willingness to subject himself to a profile. He figured that the chances of Brady agreeing were a Hail Mary at best, but Brady returned Mark's call in summer 2014 and kept on returning his calls through epic Patriots Super Bowl victory and defeat, and a scandal involving Brady—Deflategate—whose grip on sports media was as profound as its true significance was ridiculous.
So began a four-year odyssey that took Mark Leibovich deeper inside the NFL than anyone has gone before. From the owners' meeting to the draft to the sidelines of crucial games, he takes in the show at the elbow of everyone from Brady to big-name owners to the cordially despised NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell. Ultimately, Big Game is a chronicle of "peak football"—the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance, but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth, but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for "not for long," but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzz-kill of its obvious consequences.
And that was before Donald Trump. In 2016, Mark's day job caught up with him, and the NFL slammed headlong into America's culture wars. Big Game is a journey through an epic storm. Through it all, Leibovich always keeps one eye on Tom Brady and his beloved Patriots, through to the 2018 Super Bowl. Pro football, this hilarious and enthralling book proves, may not be the sport America needs, but it is most definitely the sport we deserve.
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Betraying Big Brother
Thursday, September 20
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
On the eve of International Women's Day in 2015, the Chinese government arrested five feminist activists and jailed them for thirty-seven days. The Feminist Five became a global cause celebre, with Hillary Clinton speaking out on their behalf and activists inundating social media with #FreetheFive messages. But the Five are only symbols of a much larger feminist movement of university students, civil rights lawyers, labor activists, performance artists, and online warriors prompting an unprecedented awakening among China's educated, urban women. In Betraying Big Brother, journalist and scholar Leta Hong Fincher argues that the popular, broad-based movement poses the greatest threat to China's authoritarian regime today.
Through interviews with the Feminist Five and other leading Chinese activists, Hong Fincher illuminates both the challenges they face and their "joy of betraying Big Brother," as Wei Tingting--one of the Feminist Five--wrote of the defiance she felt during her detention. Tracing the rise of a new feminist consciousness now finding expression through the #MeToo movement, and describing how the Communist regime has suppressed the history of its own feminist struggles, Betraying Big Brother is a story of how the movement against patriarchy could reconfigure China and the world.
Leta Hong Fincher is a journalist who has written for New York Times, The Guardian, Ms. Magazine, BBC and CNN, and is the author of Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.
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The Science and the Engineering of Intelligence with Tomaso Poggio
Thursday, September 20
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-G449 (Kiva - Stata Center), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Deep learning and reinforcement learning are discoveries in neuroscience which contributed to recent successes in AI: AlphaGo and Mobileye.
To create artifacts as intelligent as we are, we need additional breakthroughs. Beginning with discussion of what they may be and where they may come from. I will argue that at the level of the hardware, biophysical properties of dendritic trees suggest more powerful nonlinearities than today's Rectified Linear Units (RELUs). At the level of the computation, basic aspects of visual intelligence require architectures beyond supervised and unsupervised learning. In the second half of the talk, I will sketch recent theoretical results, based on classical machine learning, to explain why deep networks work as well as they do.
Tomaso Poggio is one of the founders of computational neuroscience. He pioneered models of the fly's visual system and of human stereovision, introduced regularization theory to computational vision, made key contributions to the biophysics of computation and to learning theory, developed an influential model of recognition in the visual cortex and more recently a theory of invariant representations in sensory cortex.
He is the Eugene McDermott Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He is a founding member of the McGovern Institute, and is the director of the Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines (CBMM), a multi-institutional collaboration headquartered at the McGovern Institute. He joined the MIT faculty in 1981, after ten years at the Max Planck Institute for Biology and Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany. He received a Ph.D. in 1970 from the University of Genoa. Poggio is a Foreign Member of the Italian Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the 2014 Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience.
The research in the Poggio Lab is guided by the belief that learning is at the core of the problem of intelligence, both biological and artificial. Learning is thus the gateway to understanding how the human brain works and for making intelligent machines. Thus, Poggio Lab studies the problem of learning within a multidisciplinary approach.
Current research in the Poggio Lab is relevant not only for understanding higher brain function, but also for the mathematical and computer applications of statistical learning. Three basic directions of research in his group are: mathematics of statistical learning theory, engineering applications (in computer vision, computer graphics, bioinformatics and intelligent search engines) and neuroscience of visual learning. (1) In the theory domain, he has focused on the foundations of learning theory and on a formal characterization of necessary and sufficient conditions for predictivity of learning. (2) The engineering applications include bioinformatics projects, computer vision for scene recognition and trainable, man-machines interfaces. (3) In the computational neuroscience area, his research is centered on object recognition and, in particular, on a quantitative theory of the ventral stream in the visual cortex underlying object recognition and object categorization. The theory and its computer implementation has become a tool for analyzing, interpreting and planning experiments in extensive collaborations with experimental neuro-scientists. This should lead to a better and more coherent understanding of the neural mechanisms of visual recognition and of the normal and abnormal functions of the cortex.
This talk will be webcast on the MIT CSAIL Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYs2iUgksAhgoidZwEAimmg/live beginning at 7pm.
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The Knife Edge of Value Alignment in AI: Utopia or Extinction
Monday, October 1
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Doors open @ 6pm -- Come early and meet other Long Now thinkers -- Presentations start @ 7pm
Café ArtScience, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
Cost: $15.00 /per person
A Long Now Boston Community Conversation with
Richard Mallah and Lucas Perry of The Future of Life Institute [FLi]
Summary:
AI: Artificial Intelligence is one of this century’s most misunderstood buzzwords. In Kurzweil's “Singularity”, it represents a glorious future where human toil and suffering is ended. In The Matrix, it conjures a future dominated by malevolent supermachines feeding on the energies of human slaves. In reality, AI is fast becoming the ubiquitous hand-maiden of human invention and ingenuity for much of what we relish in our day to day. From search engines to the energy grid; autonomous vehicles to life support systems; food production to weather forecasting; data security to anti-ballistic missile guidance. The list of AI processes we can no longer get by without grows daily.
AI programming ultimately relies on simple, digital decision chains, but they are at the point where machines can teach themselves. The Intelligence may be artificial and “inhuman”, but is increasingly more capable than our own. In the world of zeroes and ones, a near perfection of logical functioning can be achieved, with AI systems that are free of human foibles and the slowness of biological systems, free of human attributes like emotion, intuition, love, or a sense of right and wrong. Or are they?
What happens when we ask the algorithms to make decisions for us - decisions that may have life and death consequences? And what happens if, or when, their intelligence begins to match or exceed our own - the level of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) where we can no longer tell if an agent is human or machine? Autonomous decision-making and human level agency will require moral and ethical guidance. Do our AI programmers have the perspective — historical, philosophical, moral — to be the arbiters of that guidance? Or do we let the algorithms themselves learn human morality by emulating humans? How do we properly align the values of our inventions, to achieve the goal of a beneficent future for all?
The Long Now Boston Conversation Series hosts the Future of Life Institute's Robert Mallah and Lucas Perry to share their research on the frontiers of Value Alignment and the implications for the future of AI and AGI.
Join the conversation and be part of the solution.
$15 in advance // $20 at the door. Students w/ID admitted free.
Audience participation is encouraged.
The [FLI] is one of the world’s leading organizations exploring the potential existential challenges and solutions of technology in the fields of AI, Biotech, Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change.
Richard Mallah, Director of AI Projects FLI, has over fifteen years of experience leading AI research and AI product teams in industry, lending an appreciation for tradeoffs at all AI product lifecycle stages. Richard holds a degree in computer science, AI, and machine learning from Columbia University, and is well read in natural philosophy.
Lucas Perry, Project Coordinator FLI, focuses on enabling and delivering existential risk mitigation efforts ranging from direct interventions, to advocacy, and enabling research. He studied philosophy at Boston College and has been working in AI safety and existential risk ever since.
We’re proud and excited to welcome Richard and Lucas to the Long Now Boston community.
$15 in advance // $20 at the door. Students w/ID admitted free.
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A Documentary History of the United States
Thursday, September 20
8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Here, in a single volume, are the documents, speeches, and letters that have forged American history, now updated with new content such as Trump's inaugural address.
Accompanied by interpretations of their significance by noted historian Richard D. Heffner and journalist Alexander Heffner, this book includes important documents such as:
The complete text of the Declaration of Independence
The complete Constitution of the United States
The Monroe Doctrine
The Emancipation Proclamation
Woodrow Wilson's War Message to Congress
Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" Speech
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech
Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Addresses
Documents relating to September 11, 2001 and the Iraq War
This edition has been expanded and updated to include a chapter on the Presidency of Donald Trump.
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Friday, September 21, 9 a.m. – Saturday, September 22, 3 p.m.
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Changing Middle Classes: Comparative and Global Perspectives
WHEN Friday, Sep. 21, 9 a.m. – Saturday, Sep. 22, 2018, 3 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South Building, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Presented by the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
SPEAKER(S) Multiple panels with speakers over the two-day conference.
Keynote Address: “The Geopolitics of Inequality: The Remaking of Elites and Middle Classes”
Mike Savage, Martin White Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics.
COST No registration required. Free and open to the public.
CONTACT INFO Amy Stockton
DETAILS
Our cluster's goal is to gain a more fine-grained understanding of the many complex processes that feed both inequality and inclusion. We consider in particular how to reduce recognition gaps in advanced industrial societies.
LINK https://wcfia.harvard.edu/conferences/18-changing-middle-classes-comparative-and-global-perspectives
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Friday, September 21
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Parking Day
Friday, September 21
all over Cambridge
More information at http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Projects/Transportation/parkingday
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Molecular Robotics, 9th Annual Wyss International Symposium
WHEN Friday, Sep. 21, 2018, 8:15 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Health Sciences, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Wyss Institute
SPEAKER(S)
David Baker
George Church
Itai Cohen
Hendrik Dietz
Don Ingber
Yamuna Krishnan
Lulu Qian
Khalid Salaita
Rebecca Schulman
William Shih
Justin Werfel
Wesley Wong
Hao Yan
Peng Yin
David Zhang
COST Free
TICKET WEB LINK http://events.wyss.harvard.edu
CONTACT INFO events@wyss.harvard.edu
DETAILS
The 9th International Wyss Symposium will focus on new advances in the emerging field of Molecular Robotics, with the goal of sharing recent progress at the intersection of DNA nanotechnology, synthetic biology, robotics, and computer science, that could lead to programmable molecular machines as novel solutions for research and medicine.
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So You’re a Multicellular Microbe...
Friday, September 21
8:30AM TO 9:30AM
Harvard, Classroom 375 (formerly Room 310), 3rd floor, Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Nick Lyons (HMS-MBIB) will present and lead a discussion on "" Coffee, tea, and pastries will be served.
Contact Name: Monica McCallum
MSI Chalk-Talk
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Being Bold: The Implementation of BU’s Climate Action Plan
Friday, September 21
9:30 am to 11:00 am
BU, TBD
Join us during Alumni Weekend for an overview of how BU plans to reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions to zero on BU’s campuses by 2040. BU is working towards making buildings more energy-efficient and resilient to flooding, and shifting away from fossil fuels to wind and solar sources. The Climate Action Plan Task Force is pleased to present an overview of the five-point Climate Action Plan and recommendations based on assessing science and long-term fiscal responsibility. Hear about how BU’s Task Force aims to elevate the University’s position as a leader in addressing the challenges of climate change in its educational programs, research, operations, finance, and community engagement. An overview of the power purchase agreement will also be presented.
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Gutman Library Book Talk: Educational Goods
WHEN Friday, Sep. 21, 2018, 12:15 – 1:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Gutman Conference Center - Area 3, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Gutman Library
SPEAKER(S) Susanna Loeb, Harry Brighouse
TICKET WEB LINK https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a5xfWpV4LBvQBvL
TICKET INFO Please RSVP
DETAILS We spend a lot of time arguing about how schools might be improved. But we rarely take a step back to ask what we as a society should be looking for from education — what exactly should those who make decisions be trying to achieve?
Lunch will be served!
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Can We Solve the Migration Crisis?
Friday, September 21
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned human rights lawyer and Harvard scholar and professor JACQUELINE BHABHA for a discussion of her latest book, Can We Solve the Migration Crisis?.
About Can We Solve the Migration Crisis?
Every minute 24 people are forced to leave their homes and over 65 million are currently displaced worldwide. Small wonder that tackling the refugee and migration crisis has become a global political priority.
But can this crisis be resolved and if so, how? In this compelling essay, Jacqueline Bhabha explains why forced migration demands compassion, generosity and a more vigorous acknowledgment of our shared dependence on human mobility as a key element of global collaboration. Unless we develop humane 'win-win' strategies for tackling the inequalities and conflicts driving migration and for addressing the fears fuelling xenophobia, she argues, both innocent lives and cardinal human rights principles will be squandered in the service of futile nationalism and oppressive border control.
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Network Science – A Network of Sciences
Friday, September 21
3:00pm-4:00pm – Refreshments at 2:45pm
BU, 8 St. Mary’s Street, PHO 211, Boston
Ariel Orda, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Network Science is a newly emerging discipline with applications in a variety of domains, such as Communication Networks, Power Grid Networks, Transportation Networks, Social Networks and Biological Networks. Focusing on communication networks, we shall discuss what network science should be and what it should consist of. The talk will also feature some historical anecdotes, tracing back to ancient times.
Ariel Orda is the Herman & Gertrude Gross Professor at the Technion. He received his BSc (summa cum laude), MSc and PhD at the Technion. He is an IEEE Fellow. During 1.1.2014-12.31.2017, he served as the Dean of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion. His research interests include network routing, the application of game theory to networking, survivability, QoS provisioning and wireless networks. He received several awards for research, teaching, and service.
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Global Income Inequality
WHEN Friday, Sep. 21, 2018, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, S050, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Asia Center Seminar Series
SPEAKER(S)Speaker: Sudhir Anand, Associate
Harvard University Asia Center; Professor of Economics, University of Oxford
Chair: Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
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No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding
Friday, September 21
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research welcome award-winning author and Princeton professor SEAN WILENTZ for a discussion of his latest book, No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding.
About No Property in Man
Americans revere the Constitution even as they argue fiercely over its original toleration of slavery. Some historians have charged that slaveholders actually enshrined human bondage at the nation’s founding. The acclaimed political historian Sean Wilentz shares the dismay but sees the Constitution and slavery differently. Although the proslavery side won important concessions, he asserts, antislavery impulses also influenced the framers’ work. Far from covering up a crime against humanity, the Constitution restricted slavery’s legitimacy under the new national government. In time, that limitation would open the way for the creation of an antislavery politics that led to Southern secession, the Civil War, and Emancipation.
Wilentz’s controversial and timely reconsideration upends orthodox views of the Constitution. He describes the document as a tortured paradox that abided slavery without legitimizing it. This paradox lay behind the great political battles that fractured the nation over the next seventy years. As Southern Fire-eaters invented a proslavery version of the Constitution, antislavery advocates, including Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, proclaimed antislavery versions based on the framers’ refusal to validate what they called “property in man.”
No Property in Man invites fresh debate about the political and legal struggles over slavery that began during the Revolution and concluded with the Confederacy’s defeat. It drives straight to the heart of the most contentious and enduring issue in all of American history.
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Lessons from Nature for Edible Ecosystems and Human Societies with Dave Jacke
Friday, September 21
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
First Church In Jamaica Plain, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
Healthy forests maintain, fertilize, and renew themselves, naturally. Imagine having an ecosystem like that in your own yard, but it grows your food! Imagine meeting our own needs while regenerating healthy ecosystems at the same time…. Edible forest gardens mimic the structures and functions of natural forests while growing food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizers, farmaceuticals, and fun. This talk introduces the vision of forest gardening with some scientific background, a few living examples, and a sampling of some useful perennial edibles you can use in your own garden. We’ll focus on understanding the social structures of ecosystems, and see what lessons these have for our gardens, and for the ways we organize and understand ourselves as human beings.
Dave Jacke, primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, has studied ecology and design since the 1970s. An engaging designer and educator, Dave has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities all over the U.S., and overseas. He holds a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984).
Friday event is free and open to the public, invite your friends!
Please note that the In-depth Saturday day-long workshop explores the specific ecological theories and practical design processes behind polyculture design through exercises and games. Participants will observe, evaluate, and redesign a perennial polyculture. Pre-registration for Saturday workshop is required - Space is limited.
Participant Fee $100 (some scholarships available, please contact Orion@bostonfoodforest.org)
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Leadership: In Turbulent Times
Friday, September 21
8:00 PM (Doors at 7:30)
Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Cost: $8 - $32.00 (book included)
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and historian DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN—the bestselling author of Team of Rivals and The Bully Pulpit—for a discussion of her highly anticipated latest book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times
About Leadership
Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?
In Leadership, Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights)—to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope.
Leadership tells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times.
No common pattern describes the trajectory of leadership. Although set apart in background, abilities, and temperament, these men shared a fierce ambition and a deep-seated resilience that enabled them to surmount uncommon hardships. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others.
This seminal work provides an accessible and essential roadmap for aspiring and established leaders in every field. In today’s polarized world, these stories of authentic leadership in times of apprehension and fracture take on a singular urgency.
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Saturday, September 22, 8:45am to 6pm, and Sunday, September 23, 12 noon to 6pm
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Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Two-Day Basic Level Workshop
Saturday, September 22, 8:45am to 6pm, and Sunday, September 23, 12 noon to 6pm
Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Two-Day Basic Level Workshop
Beacon Hill Friends House, 6 Chestnut Street, Boston
The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) began in 1975. An inmate group at Green Haven Prison in New York sought assistance from local Quakers to reduce inmate violence. From this partnership of inmates and Quakers, AVP was born. AVP is in demand in schools, prisons and youth groups. AVP conducts programs in 35 US states and over 45 countries. AVP has shaped the Reconciliation process in South Africa and in Rwanda.
About the Basic Level Workshop
AVP is an experiential program, helping people change their lives. The basic level AVP workshop is an intensive learning experience that teaches interpersonal conflict resolution skills. These experiences in small groups and in one-to-one interactions help build a sense of community. Role plays also provide an opportunity to explore, to learn, and practice creative ways to respond to real life conflicts in our lives.
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Saturday, September 22
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Lynn Wind & Water Tour
Saturday, September 22
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT
2 Circle Avenue, Lynn
Go inside a wind turbine, then take a tour of a water treatment plant!
It's not everyday that you can get up close to a wind turbine and learn about how it can turn a breeze into the electricity we need to power our homes. As a special bonus, the Lynn turbine is part of the wastewater treatment facility, so you can see how energy and water infrastructure can work together sustainably.
Our Green Powered program supports the Lynn turbine.
Questions? Contact us!
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call 800-287-3950 x5 or email hello@greenenergyconsumers.org.
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you!
This tour is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please RSVP.
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Gardening Like the Forest: Designing Plant Guilds and Perennial Polycultures
Saturday, September 22
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street, Mattapan
Ecosystem agriculture attempts to mimic the structure and function of natural ecosystems in food-producing ecologies. At the most practical level, this entails designing guilds of plants, often in the form of polycultures. Effective polycultures combine useful plants in ways that minimize competition, create additive yields, and minimize the gardener’s work and outside inputs (e.g., water, fertilizer). Polyculture design is the most interesting and challenging part of the garden design process. Building off the Friday evening lecture, this one-day workshop explores the specific ecological theories and practical design processes behind polyculture design through exercises and games. Participants will observe, evaluate, and redesign a perennial polyculture at the Boston Nature Center Food Forest during class.
Dave Jacke, primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, has studied ecology and design since the 1970s. An engaging designer and educator, Dave has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities all over the U.S., and overseas. He holds a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984).
PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED – SPACE IS LIMITED
Participant Fee $100 (some scholarships available, please contact Orion@bostonfoodforest.org)
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Homes For All Assembly: Build a People's Plan!
September, September 22
12:00pm - 4:00pm
First Church Roxbury, 10 Putnam Street, Roxbury
Build real solutions to Boston’s displacement crisis, led by the people most impacted.
HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT. Housing should be built & maintained to meet the needs of communities and provide stability for families and individuals, not create enormous profit for corporations.
THE PEOPLE MOST IMPACTED MUST LEAD! We believe that to win homes for all we need to overturn centuries of racist, sexist, classist and oppressive housing and economic policies that have impacted low-income and working-class communities, Black, Indigenous, Latinxs and Asian communities, women and LGBTQ communities the most. We believe our movement will be strongest when these people, who have seen the impacts of the crisis first hand, are leading the way to transform our world.
LAND & HOUSING SHOULD BE COLLECTIVELY-CONTROLLED BY COMMUNITIES AND SUSTAINED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
We believe communities must control the resources – including land and housing – in our neighborhoods. We should relate to land and our earth as stewards, respecting the land with future generations in mind.
JOIN US for a Boston assembly to build a people’s plan for good development and an end to displacement.
light lunch / childcare / interpretation
Hosted by Right to the City Boston and our Homes For All local partners and allies: Action for Equity, Alternatives for Community and Environment, Boston Tenant Coalition, Chinese Progressive Association, City Life/Vida Urbana, Dorchester Not for Sale, Keep It 100 for Real Affordable Housing and Racial Justice, New England United for Justice, and Reclaim Roxbury.
Build our movement for Homes For All in Boston!
Register Today!
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Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Started a Scientific Revolution!
Saturday, September 22
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Geological Lecture Hall, Harvard University, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Film and panel discussion. Meet Lynn's colleagues and learn about one of the best-loved revolutionaries in the history of science!
Please sign up at https://bio4climate.org/symbiotic-earth/
Editorial Comment: I was lucky enough to spend some time with Lynn Margulis. She had an incendiary brilliance that was lovely. I always thought she should have won the Nobel Prize but she died much too soon.
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Fluff the 13th
Saturday, September 22 (rain date: Sunday, September 23)
3pm-7pm
Union Square, Somerville
The 13th annual “What the Fluff” Festival will feature musical performances, a cooking contest, Fluff-themed games, activities, antics and fun for every age, and Fluff treats of every sort. Stay tuned for more details to come.
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Sunday, September 23
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FARM KICKOFF WITH GREEN CAMBRIDGE
Sunday, September 23
12:00 PM
Hurley Street Neighborhood Farm, 213 Hurley Street, Cambridge
Kickoff Climate Preparedness Week at Green Cambridge's Hurley St. Farm! We'll be working and discussing how urban farms and local food sources can increase community resilience to climate change.
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Jazz Along The Charles: A Walkable Concert
Sunday, September 23
2:00-4:00pm
Charles River Esplanade, Boston
25 Jazz Bands: 1 Concert
Join us on September 23 for Jazz Along The Charles, a gathering of 25 jazz ensembles who will perform the same set list as part of a series of connected, walkable locations along the Charles River Esplanade.
Stroll along the Charles River and discover new songs, artists, and areas of the Esplanade.
The bands will interpret a curated list of Boston-related tunes in one collective concert that celebrates the great jazz community in Boston. These 25 jazz ensembles will play simultaneously to interpret the same set list in their own styles.
Jazz Along the Charles is a free public event, part of Celebrity Series’ commitment to free public performance experiences for the people of Boston. Come enjoy an afternoon of music and discovery!
Learn more about Jazz Along The Charles and the 25 ensembles, who together showcase the diverse and talented jazz community of Boston: https://www.celebrityseries.org/live-performances/public-performance-projects/jazz-along-the-charles/
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United Nations International Day of Peace 2018 - Boston
Sunday, September 23
2 - 4pm
Boston Common near the Park Street MBTA Station
Church on the Hill, 140 Bowdoin St, Boston, MA 02108 (rain location)
The United Nations has established "The Right to Peace - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70" as the theme for this year's International Day of Peace. Join CMM, Friends Meeting at Cambridge and the St Paul AME Church, along with other partners, on the Boston Common in a day of music, dance, song, poetry, artwork and peace education.
Proclamations from Mayor Walsh's office and Governor Baker's office to be read.
This year's program will include: Issa Bibbins, Rodney Dailey, Dawn Duncan, Kaeza Fearn, Darrell Hamilton, Ian Harrington, Miranda Henne, Marla Marcum, National Liturgical Dance Network - Massachusetts Chapter, Maria Soledad Del Villar Tagle and more to be announced!
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FarmFarm UnBrunch Potluck Party
Sunday, September 23
2:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Urban Farming Institute Headquarters, 487 Norfolk Street, Boston
Please join us for a fundraiser "unbrunch," a brunch style potluck gathering from 2pm-7pm on Sunday, September 23rd! We will have delicious food, an open mic, activities for kids, and vendors gathering to host an amazing event intended to raise money for the 2018 UFI Farm Apprentices to attend the Black Urban Growers Conference in Durham, NC.
If you would like to make your donation towards this event at the time of registration, or cannot attend this event, please go to our GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/farmfam-trip-to-durham-nc .
Thank you so much for your support and we lok forward to seeing you for this fabulous event!
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Monday, September 24 - Sunday, September 30
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Cambridge Climate Preparedness Week
More information at https://www.climatecrew.org/prep_week?locale=en
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Monday, September 24
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African Sustainable Development Conference
Monday, September 24
8:30am to 5:00pm
MIT Building E25, Room 401 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://umrp.mit.edu/events/
Convened by the Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique--MIT Research Program (UMRP) this is a working meeting of international experts in sustainable urbanization, climate & water, precision agriculture, green chemistry and industrial optimization with the focus on sustainable development in Morocco and across Africa.
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The Growing Need for Precision in LED Lighting
Monday, September 24
11:00 AM EDT
Webcast
The Growing Need for Precision in LED Lighting looks at three main trends in machine vision lighting, specifically, the need for lights with nanosecond response times versus today’s millisecond trigger/rise/fall times; the need to manage multiple lights, whether it be for multispectral applications or large-area, vision-guided-robotics multi-light installations. Finally, the optical performance of new classes of high performance lights requires a multidisciplinary light design approach that includes electronic, optical, and mechanical engineering skillsets to optimize and balance the performance of each component within the lighting solution design.
Presented by:
Paul Powers, Director of Sales - Americas, Smart Vision Lights
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Kristen Soltis Anderson
Monday, September 24
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Rubenstein Building, Room 414ABDavid T. Ellwood Democracy Lab, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
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PAOC Colloquium - Paul Wennberg (Caltech)
Monday, September 24
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915/923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Paul Wennberg (Caltech)
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
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State Policies and Wholesale Electricity Markets
Monday, September 24
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Travis Fisher, Adviser to the Chief of Staff, FERC
Lunch will be served.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar
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Immigrants Making America Great Again: Lessons from an Undocumented Immigrant Turned Lawyer
Monday, September 24
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Northeastern, 240 Dockser Hall, 65 Forsyth Street, Boston
Fall 2018 Daynard Visiting Fellow: Prerna Lal, Staff Attorney/Clinical Supervisor, Immigration Practice, East Bay Community Law Center
Prerna Lal was born in the Fiji Islands, came to the United States with their parents when they were 14, and then lived in the San Francisco East Bay area.
Formerly an undocumented immigrant, Lal was integral to establishing United We DREAM and the DreamActivist network, both led by undocumented youth. The organizations mobilized thousands of undocumented immigrants to push for the federal DREAM Act in 2010, ending the deportations of undocumented youth, and securing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under the Obama Administration. A mobilizer and social media strategist, Lal has also helped with the creation of many local immigrant youth groups, providing direct support, mentorship and advocacy to individuals caught up in the immigration dragnet.
As an undocumented law school graduate, Lal was among the first in the country to obtain a license to practice law. As a result of Lal’s high-spirited activism, the US government sought to deport them. Law won lawful permanent residency after a long court battle, and in April 2018, Lal became a United States citizen.
As a nonprofit policy attorney in Washington, DC, Lal worked at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), spearheading initiatives related to extending DACA, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nepal and parole-in-place for family members of Filipino war veterans. Through a partnership between the East Bay Community Law Center and UC Berkeley’s Undocumented Student Program, Lal provided immigration legal services for more than 500 students and their family members. As an immigration attorney, clinical supervisor and lecturer at a clinic of UC Berkeley School of Law, Lal mentored a new generation of public interest law students.
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Invasive plant challenges and opportunities in the U.S.
Monday, September 24
12:10p
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, 1300 Centre Street, Boston
Jenica Allen, Affiliate Assistant Professor, University of New Hampshire
More information at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
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Not-so-big Data and Ebola Virus Disease
Monday, September 24
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7VGUkAvTU655Dub2FTGSNMjpVs6f8Qbu0kpmXh6oz11MgFw/viewform
Eugene T. Richardson, Harvard, HMS
The STS Circle at Harvard is a group of doctoral students and recent PhDs who are interested in creating a space for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary issues in science and technology that are relevant to people in fields such as anthropology, history of science, sociology, STS, law, government, public policy, and the natural sciences. We want to engage not only those who are working on intersections of science, politics, and public policy, but also those in the natural sciences, engineering, and architecture who have serious interest in exploring these areas together with social scientists and humanists.
There has been growing interest among graduate students and postdocs at Harvard in more systematic discussions related to STS. More and more dissertation writers and recent graduates find themselves working on exciting topics that intersect with STS at the edges of their respective home disciplines, and they are asking questions that often require new analytic tools that the conventional disciplines don’t necessarily offer. They would also like wider exposure to emerging STS scholarship that is not well-represented or organized at most universities, including Harvard. Our aim is to try to serve those interests through a series of activities throughout the academic year.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
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Science, Religion, and Out-of-Body Experiences
WHEN Monday, Sep. 24, 2018, 3 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CSWR Conference Room, 42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Religion
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for the Study of World Religions
SPEAKER(S) Kurt Leland has written on astral projection, near-death experiences, and the transcendent possibilities of composing, performing, and listening to music. In 2007, What Is Enlightenment? magazine numbered him among “the world’s foremost OBE experts.” In 2017, his book Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan was a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association in the Body, Mind & Spirit category. As well as being a National Lecturer for the Theosophical Society in America, he is a Boston-based classical musician and award-winning composer and maintains a consulting and teaching practice called Spiritual Orienteering.
DETAILS Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs, also known as astral projection), in which people apparently separate their consciousness from the physical body and move about independently in nearby and remote real-world locations and far-out nonphysical locales, have been noted in religious and mystical contexts since the beginning of recorded history, especially in connection with close calls with death (Near-Death Experiences, also known as NDEs). Often, these experiences are used as proof of the existence of paranormal abilities, survival of physical death, and the possibility of exploring invisible worlds, other dimensions, or subtle planes of existence. During the last fifteen years, scientific researchers have devised a number of experiments suggesting that OBEs and NDEs originate in the brain and strongly resemble experiences produced by natural and synthetic hallucinogens. What are the implications of this research for spiritual seekers, esoteric movements, and the history of religions?
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Land-use Regimes and the Future of New England’s Forest Carbon
Monday, September 24
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
BU, CAS 132, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Jonathan Thompson, Harvard Forest
With a reception to follow.
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Reflections on a lifetime effort to bring peace to the Middle East: An Interview with Herbert C. Kelman
WHEN Monday, Sep. 24, 2018, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Classroom 2004, 1585 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies
SPEAKER(S) Herbert C. Kelman, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics Emeritus, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Herbert C. Kelman is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics Emeritus, at Harvard University and was (from 1993 to 2003) director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Yale University in 1951. He is past president of the International Studies Association, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Interamerican Society of Psychology, and several other professional associations. He is recipient of many awards, including the Socio-Psychological Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1956), the Kurt Lewin Memorial award (1973), the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (1981), the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order (1997), the Austrian Medal of Honor for Science and Art (1998), and the Gold Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital of Vienna (2012). His major publications include "International Behavior: A Social-Psychological Analysis" (editor; 1965), "A Time to Speak: On Human Values and Social Research" (1968), and "Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility" (with V. Lee Hamilton; 1989).
Prof Kelman has been engaged for many years in the development of interactive problem solving, an unofficial third party approach to the resolution of international and intercommunal conflicts, and in its application to the Arab-Israeli conflict, with special emphasis on its Israeli-Palestinian component.
Unless otherwise noted in the event description, CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
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The Future of Food and Nutrition: Implications for Science, Dietary Guidelines, and Food Policy
Monday, September 24
4:30 – 6:00 pm
Museum of Science, Cahners Auditorium, 1 Science Park, Boston
Join us for the awarding of the 2018 Walker Prize to Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH
The Walker Prize recognizes "meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery" in any scientific field. The recipient must be a noted scientist, professor, or researcher who is a superb science communicator via the written word and is well known for superlative work in her / his field. The prize was established in 1864 by Dr. William Johnson Walker, one of the most eminent surgeons of his era and a generous benefactor of the Boston Society of Natural History, the Museum's founding organization.
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Science Sounds Strange: Ether Waves, Espionage, and the Theremin’s Odyssey
WHEN Monday, Sep. 24, 2018, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Music, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Dorit Chrysler, musicologist and composer; directory, NY Theremin Society; founder, KidCoolThereminSchool
John Huth, Donner Professor of Science, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Little did Léon Theremin realize that his Soviet-sponsored spy research into electromagnetic waves and proximity sensors would lead to the creation of a new and strange musical instrument. Classical music composers — as well as Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones — have written for the eerie-sounding theremin, a musical instrument that plays without every actually being touched. Come hear a performance of this extraordinary instrument and the cautionary tale of a physicist-turned-music-pioneer, whose inventions became steeped in politics and whose life story reads like a spy novel. Register online.
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Boston's Creative Economy Mingle
Monday, September 24
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Boston Athenæum, 10 ½ Beacon St, Boston
The Creative Economy (CE) and the people it employs stimulate innovation, strengthen America's competitiveness in the global marketplace, and play an important role in building and sustaining economic vibrancy. The Creative Industries include the interlocking industry sectors that provide creative services such as advertising, architecture, or creating and promoting intellectual property products such as arts, film, computer games, multimedia or design. Within Massachusetts, over 17,000 creative economy businesses, employ more than 75,000 people, representing 4.3 percent of the total number of businesses and 2.1 percent of the people they employ. Boston currently exceeds both national and state statistics for the sector. As of 2014, City of Boston reported over 2000 CE businesses and a combined CE workforce (payroll & self employed) of over 36,000. This represents nearly 5.4% of total businesses, and nearly 5 percent of all employment.
SPARK Boston, in partnership with the Mayor's Officeof Arts and Culture, the Office of Small Business Development, the Office of Diversity, the Office of Resilience & Racial Equity, ArtsBoston, Network of Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC), Powerful Pathways and Boston Athenæum is hosting a networking event focused on bringing together millennials of color working or aspiring toward employment across creative industries in Boston. This is for individual artists and arts administrators, to small creative business owners, entrepreneurs, and employees of larger greater Boston-based creative businesses. Bring plenty of business cards and get ready to find your next great opportunity.
The evening will feature facilitated networking, performances, and free food. Bring plenty of business cards and a spirit for networking! This event is free and open to the public, but is intended and programmed for millennials of color. We'd also like to let our guests know that the Boston Athenæum has a locker policy for items such as large purses, backpacks and luggage, wheeled containers, etc. Only small personal items, such as wallets, eyeglasses, phones, and keys are permitted inside the premises. Lockers are free and security will check bags upon departure.
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Conflict and the Global Threat of Pandemics
WHEN Monday, Sep. 24, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Museum of Natural History
SPEAKER(S) Michele Barry, Professor of Medicine; Senior Associate Dean of Global Health, Director, Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO (617) 495-3045, hmnh@hmsc.harvard.edu
DETAILS Detection and control of emerging infections in conflict zones is a major public health challenge. The breakdown of civil society often leads to the collapse of health systems and sanitation, food insecurity, poor coordination among humanitarian agencies, and the subsequent emergence of diseases that can proliferate into global pandemics. Michele Barry will discuss how Ebola, polio, yellow fever, cholera, and Lassa fever have emerged during conflict in fragile states and what has been learned from the outbreaks to better predict and control other potential epidemics.
Lecture. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
Free parking at the Oxford Street Garage
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard Global Health Institute, as part of OUTBREAK WEEK 2018, a University-wide effort to commemorate the 1918 influenza pandemic.
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Solar Access Celebration
Monday, September 24
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
DBEDC’s Bornstein & Pearl Facility, 200 Quincy Street, Boston
In recognition of the launch of the Solar Access Program, we would like to invite you to join us and Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) the evening of Monday, September 24th to kick off Climate Week at Bornstein and Pearl. The Solar Access Program is a solar program designed by Resonant Energy — in partnership with DBEDC and SunWealth — to make solar accessible to low-income households and nonprofits. Come celebrate this huge milestone in the clean energy movement with us, learn how you can be involved and grab a bite to eat!
Address: 200 Quincy St, Boston, MA 02121
Time: 6 PM - 7:30 PM
6:00 - 6:30: Food and Arrival
6:30 - 7:00: Speakers
7:00 - 7:30: Music and Conversation
Food: The event will highlight CommonWealth Kitchen vendors and feature a variety of foods available for purchase.
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Sheila Remes, "The Future is Built Here”
WHEN Monday, Sep. 24, 2018, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Gund Hall, Room 124, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Master in Design Engineering at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Sheila Remes, Vice President of Strategy for Commercial Airplanes, Boeing
Sheila Remes is vice president of Strategy for Commercial Airplanes and also leads Boeing’s Cabin Vertical Integration team. In these roles, Remes oversees cross-functional efforts to define Boeing’s strategic direction and address complex, enterprise-wide business decisions. These include greater life-cycle value for customers and internal capabilities for Boeing, growth opportunities such as services and intellectual property control, product and propulsion strategy, and environment and aviation policy. She is also responsible for international business development strategy and serves on the Boeing International leadership team. Outside of Boeing, Remes serves on the World Affairs Council of Seattle Board of Directors.
COST Free
DETAILS Boeing is the global leader in helping to connect, protect, explore and inspire the world. A city the size of Chicago flies on a commercial airliner somewhere every day and that number is expected to double in the next 20 years. One-third of the value of global goods also moves by air. Yet fewer than one in five people have ever flown and aviation transports just 1 percent of all trade.
As we look deeper into our second century, we’re inspired by the opportunity to sharpen and accelerate our history of innovation to connect more of the world than ever before. By fundamentally changing the economics and ecosystem of flight, we can meet the increasing demand for safe, efficient, affordable and sustainable air travel.
In addition to continuing to serve large commercial passenger and cargo markets, Boeing will bring air transport to new markets. Our flight plan, the future is built here, focuses on key areas to support Boeing’s mission to connect the world through aerospace innovation, as well as be the best in aerospace and an enduring global industrial champion.
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Tales from an Uncertain World
Monday, September 24
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
So far, humanity hasn’t done very well in addressing the ongoing climate catastrophe. Veteran science educator L. S. Gardiner believes we can learn to do better by understanding how we’ve dealt with other types of environmental risks in the past and why we are dragging our feet in addressing this most urgent emergency. Weaving scientific facts and research together with humor and emotion, Gardiner explores human responses to erosion, earthquakes, fires, invasive species, marine degradation, volcanic eruptions, and floods in order to illuminate why we find it so challenging to deal with climate change. Insight emerges from unexpected places—a mermaid exhibit, a Magic 8 Ball, and midcentury cartoons about a future that never came to be.
Instead of focusing on the economics and geopolitics of the debate over climate change, this book brings large-scale disaster to a human scale, emphasizing the role of the individual. We humans do have the capacity to deal with disasters. When we face threatening changes, we don’t just stand there pretending it isn’t so, we do something. But because we’re human, our responses aren’t always the right ones the first time—yet we can learn to do better. This book is essential reading for all who want to know how we can draw on our strengths to survive the climate catastrophe and forge a new relationship with nature.
L. S. Gardiner is the author of two and illustrator of nine children's books about science. She works at the UCAR Center for Science Education, and resides in Boulder, Colorado.
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Tuesday, September 25
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By the People: Revolutionizing the Democratic Process to Ensure Full Participation by Millennials and People of Color
A Special Event hosted as part of City Awake’s Fierce Urgency of Now Festival
Tuesday, September 25
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
BUild Innovation Lab @ Boston University, 730 Commonwealth, Boston
About Fierce Urgency of Now:
Join Amplify Latinx in collaboration with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and City Awake, for a six days FUN festival of conversation and celebration of Boston's Millennials of Color. The Boston Foundation and City Awake’s City of Millennials report shows that Greater Boston’s millennial population is more racially and ethnically diverse and more educated than ever before. However, it also exposed the many barriers that population faces in Boston as well. That is why Fierce Urgency of Now is so important. A 6-day festival September 20-25 dedicated to talking about these issues and convening young Bostonians of color to share their experiences. We are proud to partner with City Awake for this cause. Learn more at #FUNinBOS.
Description: The most impactful movements in history have been set in motion at the grassroots level. Join us for a trendsetting dialogue on inclusive voting models and learn about innovative strategies to overcome barriers to civic engagement. Walk away with a toolkit that will equip you to educate voters on a system that drives voter participation.
Black and Latino voters could make a sizable difference in this Fall’s mid-term elections. The Millennial and Latinx population will grow more than 55% in the next two decades to 90 million -- representing more than a quarter of all Americans. This demographic shift presents a key opportunity to invest in outreach and new voting processes to ensure strong turn out by this large, yet disengaged electorate.
In this forum led by expert speakers, we will hear success stories around online voter registration, early voting, pre-registration of high school age students, and automatic voter registration. We will also explore how we can disrupt voter access by implementing engagement strategies such as ranked choice voting and clean “citizen funded” elections to increase candidate access and voter participation by traditionally under-represented communities.
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Intro to PassivHaus
Tuesday, September 25
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, "Edison" Conference Room, 16th Floor, Boston
Cost: $30 – $45
PassivHaus, Passive House or PH for short: we know you have been hearing about it, if you subscribe to high-performance building. This well-known standard has made its way to the Americas and now is growing roots in Massachusetts. Come connect with the leaders at Passive House Massachusetts and learn the basics of the system.
Passive House comprises a set of design principles used to obtain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency and building comfort. Where did the Passive House standard come from and how has it evolved over the years? In this session, participants will learn the history of Passive House as a building concept and the differences between the national and international standards as well as how they relate to LEED and other building standards. A great opportunity to learn the basics of Passive House and get your questions answered.
Learning Objectives:
Learn the basics of Passive House principles
Introduce yourself to Passive House Massachusetts and how you can learn more in upcoming sessions
Find out how Passive House is being integrated into code in different areas nationally and internationally
Network with other Passive House practitioners and those interested in the practice
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Sustainability Festival
Tuesday, September 25
11:00 am to 2:30 pm
BU Medical School, Talbot Green, 45 Stoughton Street, Boston
Join the challenge to reduce your environmental footprint; buzz your actions and you could win some great prizes! Swap your light bulbs for an LED or get a travel coffee mug for free. Learn about biking in Boston and get involved in student and staff community organizations!
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Eugene Scott
Tuesday, September 25
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Wexner Building, Room 434AB, Wexner Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
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Neighborhood Matters: a Screening of Invisible Crisis and Conversation with Patricia Montes
Tuesday, September 25
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Northeastern, Snell Library 90, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Featuring Special Guest Patricia Montes, Executive Director, Centro Presente.
Established in 1981, Centro Presente is a member-driven, statewide Latin American immigrant organization dedicated to the self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts. Operated and led primarily by Central American immigrants, Centro Presente struggles for immigrant rights and for economic and social justice. Through the integration of community organizing, leadership development and basic services, Centro Presente strives to give our members a voice and build community power.
Patricia Montes is the Executive Director of Centro Presente, an immigrant rights organization in Massachusetts. Patricia is a recognized immigrant rights leader and a tireless advocate for just economic and social policies, including a just U.S. immigration policy. She serves on the Executive Board of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), and is a board member of The Boston Women’s Fund and the Women’s Pipeline for Change, a group that is trying to build a sustainable infrastructure to support progressive women of color as they enter, navigate and move up the pipeline to political leadership.
Patricia Montes es la Directora Ejecutiva de Centro Presente, una organización que lucha por la defensa de los derechos de los inmigrantes en Massachusetts. Montes es una líder en los derechos de los inmigrantes y defensora de políticas económicas y sociales justas, incluyendo la reforma migratoria en EEUU. Montes es parte del Consejo Ejecutivo de National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), y también es miembro de la junta de The Boston Women’s Fund and the Women’s Pipeline for Change, un grupo que busca construir una plataforma para apoyar a las mujeres pertenecientes a grupos minoritarios que desean entrar en el mundo de liderazgo político.
Free and open to the public; lunch will be served. Co-sponsored by Northeastern City and Community Affairs
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"Click Here to Kill Everybody"
Tuesday, Sep 25
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall Milstein East C (Room 2036, second floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Bruce Schneier
Computer security is no longer about data; it's about life and property. This change makes an enormous difference, and will shake up our industry in many ways. First, data authentication and integrity will become more important than confidentiality. And second, our largely regulation-free Internet will become a thing of the past. Soon we will no longer have a choice between government regulation and no government regulation. Our choice is between smart government regulation and stupid government regulation. Given this future, it's vital that we look back at what we've learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future.
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FORUM: VULNERABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Tuesday, September 25
12pm – 1:30pm
Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, 138 Tremont Street, Boston
Join us at St. Paul's to hear a panel of local leaders speak on how community members can help vulnerable populations before, during, and after an extreme weather event.
Aaron Troncoso
(617) 945-5242
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Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism
Tuesday, September 25
12:00 - 1:30 pm
BU, Pardee Center, 67 Bay State Road, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07efo921gm11735836&oseq=&c=&ch=
The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and the Institute for Health System Innovation & Policy invite you to attend an upcoming seminar with Joseph Harris, an Assistant Professor of Sociology and a Pardee Center Faculty Research Fellow.
In the book, published by Cornell University Press in 2017, Prof. Harris explores dynamics that made landmark universal healthcare and AIDS treatment policies possible in Thailand and Brazil but which led to prolonged struggle and contestation in South Africa. While conventional wisdom suggests that democratization empowers the masses, Harris draws attention to an under-appreciated dynamic: that democratization empowers elites from esteemed professions - frequently doctors and lawyers - who forge progressive change on behalf of those in need.
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What Makes a Climate Leader? The Politics of Climate Policy in California and Germany
Tuesday, September 25
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-451, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
As California hosts the Global Climate Action Summit this month, ambitions to tackle climate change fly high—the US federal government’s opposition notwithstanding. The wave of aspiration is welcome, but it is far from clear whether climate goals will in fact be implemented as effective policy. We may like to think that it all depends on voters. Yet the history of climate politics has shown that all too often powerful business lobbies capture climate policy, even if voters are in favor of action. This suggests an important truth: How governments manage vested interests shapes if climate ambitions turn into climate actions. Take the story of California and Germany, which led the world with ambitious emission reduction goals for 2020. While California reached its target ahead of time, Merkel’s administration has admitted that Germany will miss its goal by a wide margin. A key reason for California’s success lies in how little the climate policy process opened the door to lobbyists, compared to Germany. In particular, the division of labor between the bureaucracy and the legislature mattered. Drawing on these two cases, the talk will explore how policy process shapes opportunities for regulatory capture and draw lessons for implementing climate policy.
Please join us for the first Environmental Policy and Planning lunch of the fall 2018 term with guest speaker Jonas Meckling (UC Berkeley).
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Outbreak Week - Global Disease Outbreaks: Shaping public health infrastructure and investments
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2018, 3 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Kresge Cafeteria, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Exhibitions, Health Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Global Health Institute
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S) Dean Michelle Williams
Ashish Jha
Allan Brandt
Marcia Castro
Gabriela Soto Laveaga
Emmanuel K. Akyeampong
Jesse Bump
TICKET WEB LINK https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6PeeciSUnsCa49D
TICKET INFO All events are free and registration is required.
CONTACT INFO outbreakweek@harvard.edu
DETAILS Professor Allan Brandt will provide a keynote address, followed by a panel discussion on how historical disease outbreaks in Central America, South America, and Africa have shaped investments in public health infrastructure. These discussions will be followed by a reception showcasing original and customized panels from the Smithsonian Museum’s recent Outbreak exhibit.
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Books@Baker with Nancy Koehn
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2018, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Business School, Aldrich Hall 210, Soldiers Field Road, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Baker Library
SPEAKER(S) Nancy Koehn, James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration
COST Free
CONTACT INFO schurch@hbs.edu
DETAILS In "Forged in Crisis," HBS historian Nancy Koehn examines five masters of crisis: explorer Ernest Shackleton; Abraham Lincoln; abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; and environmental crusader Rachel Carson. What do such disparate figures have in common? Why do their extraordinary stories continue to amaze and inspire? Koehn offers a remarkable template by which to measure our aspirations and to judge those in our time to whom we've given our trust.
Koehn begins each section by showing her protagonist on the precipice of a great crisis. Readers then learn about each person’s childhood and see the individual growing — step by step — into the person he or she will ultimately become. Significantly, as we follow each leader’s against-all-odds journey, we begin to glean an essential truth: leaders are not born but made. In a book dense with epiphanies, the most galvanizing one may be that the power and courage to lead resides in each of us.
Q&A with the author; books available for signing.
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Resiliency with Microgrids: A Peek Inside
Tuesday, September 25
4:00pm to 6:00pm
Schneider Electric Boston One Campus 800 Federal Street, Andover
Cost: $5 - $30
A microgrid is an electrical distribution network with underground wires that serves two or more buildings in a local area. Microgrids can enter ‘island mode’ and separate from the larger electrical grid when there is a major outage - self supplying with locally generated energy.
A string of extreme weather events - think Hurricane Sandy’s impact on New York and New Jersey and Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico - have highlighted the need to create a more resilient power grid. Microgrids that use on-site renewables and energy storage support resiliency while being clean and green. Communities are looking to microgrids to keep critical services going during power outages. Companies are looking to microgrids to avoid costly power outages and reduce costs through demand-side efficiencies. Microgrids help facilities earn money through participation in demand response programs and, in the future, by providing services to the grid.
There are opportunities for startups in this market to offer microgrids and their components, like battery storage, fuel cells and controllers. Last September, New York’s Urban Future Lab announced $50,000 awards plus incubation guidance for microgrid startups. An Indiana startup built their business providing microgrids to the military and is moving on to build a commercial resilience business. Plus, peer to peer power exchanges using blockchain are popping up in conjunction with microgrids.
After experiencing outages, Schneider Electric decided to “be their own customer” and install a microgrid at their North American headquarters in Andover, MA. 440kW of power is provided by solar arrays backed up with a 400kW natural gas generator. The system provides 500kW of capacity and 1MWhr of energy. An advanced cloud-based energy management system combined with an energy control center orchestrates supply and demand and enables the microgrid to safely island. What is unique about this microgrid is that it is built using an Energy as a Service business model – a third-party investor owns the microgrid assets, so there is no capital outlay. Costs associated with the maintenance and operation are eliminated. Energy-as-a service provides more predictable energy costs, increased sustainability and robust resilience for Schneider Electric’s Boston One Campus.
Join us as we peek inside to see how this works first hand! You will get a chance to tour the facilities, and learn about the potential of microgrid technology, innovative business models and creative partnerships
Agenda:
Introduction and overview of the Microgrid
Tour of the facilities
Networking
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Starr Forum: The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies
Tuesday, September 25
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, 222 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
A book talk with Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA
Michael Hayden is a retired United States Air Force four-star general and former director of the National Security Agency, principal deputy director of National Intelligence, and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Hayden currently co-chairs the Bipartisan Policy Center's Electric Grid Cyber Security Initiative.
Joining the conversation is Joel Brenner, former head of counterintelligence under the director of National Intelligence.
Brenner is former head of counterintelligence under the director of National Intelligence and was senior counsel at the National Security Agency. He is a research affiliate at the MIT Center for International Studies.
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Gotta Get Down to It: Conversations with musician David Crosby
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2018, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Sanders Theater, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Learning from Performers program and the Harvard University Department of Music.
SPEAKER(S) Renate van Orden, Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Music at Harvard and Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music at Harvard.
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO 617-495-8676
DETAILS Join the legendary musician David Crosby in discussion forum with a group of Harvard student musicians and poets curated by host Kate van Orden, Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Music at Harvard, followed by a conversation between Crosby and Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music at Harvard.
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DUSP [Department of Urban Studies and Planning] Lightning Talks
Tuesday, September 25
5:30pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building E14: Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Kick-off the semester with the ever-popular "DUSP Lightning Talks.” Faculty and PhD students will have *three minutes* to explain *one research project* in layperson's language. Each presentation will be followed by a question from the audience, to be answered in no more than two minutes.
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What’s New? What’s Next? Cultural and Structural Threats to the Constitutional Order of the United States and Western Europe
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Seminar on Cultural Politics, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Chair: Prof. Panagiotis Roilos
SPEAKER(S) Jennifer Hochschild, Faculty Associate. Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government; Chair, Department of Government; Professor of African and African American Studies, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Harvard College Professor.
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Outbreak Week - Emerging Infections Then and Now: From the Influenza Pandemic to the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2018, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Lahey Room, Countway Library of Medicine, 10 Shattuck Street #3, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Environmental Sciences, Exhibitions, Health Sciences, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Global Health Institute
Harvard Medical School (Department of Global Health and Social Medicine)
Center for the History of Medicine
SPEAKER(S) Dan Lucey
Scott Podolsky
Eugene Richardson
Michele Barry
Ramanan Laxminarayan
TICKET WEB LINK https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6KXIVkKTGWlsLZ3
TICKET INFO All events are free and registration is required.
CONTACT INFO outbreakweek@harvard.edu
DETAILS Opening remarks will be provided by Dr. Scott Podolsky and Dr. Daniel Lucey, followed by an expert panel discussion on the emerging risks of antimicrobial resistance, historical emerging infections, big data, and contemporary outbreaks. This discussion will be followed by an exhibition curated by the Countway Medical Library, as well as exhibition material from the Smithsonian Museum’s recent Outbreak exhibit.
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On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope
Tuesday, September 25
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston
Cost: $26.75 (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed civil rights activist and community organizer DERAY MCKESSON—host of Pod Save the People—for a discussion of his debut book, On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.
About On the Other Side of Freedom
In August of 2014, twenty-nine-year-old activist DeRay Mckesson stood with hundreds of others on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, to push a message of justice and accountability. These protests, and others like them in cities across the country, resulted in the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, in his first book, Mckesson lays out the intellectual, pragmatic political framework for a new liberation movement. Continuing a conversation about activism, resistance, and justice that embraces our nation's complex history, he dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change. He argues that our best efforts to combat injustice have been stunted by the belief that racism's wounds are history, and suggests that intellectual purity has curtailed optimistic realism. The book offers a new framework and language for understanding the nature of oppression. With it, we can begin charting a course to dismantle the obvious and subtle structures that limit freedom.
Honest, courageous, and imaginative, On the Other Side of Freedom is a work brimming with hope. Drawing from his own experiences as an activist, organizer, educator, and public official, Mckesson exhorts all Americans to work to dismantle the legacy of racism and to imagine the best of what is possible. Honoring the voices of a new generation of activists, On the Other Side of Freedom is a visionary's call to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in.
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Black Flags, Blue Waters
Tuesday, September 25
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy’s “Golden Age”—spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s—when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Through engrossing episodes of roguish glamour and extreme brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among them towering Blackbeard, ill-fated Captain Kidd, and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey. Also brilliantly detailed are the pirates’ manifold enemies, including colonial governor John Winthrop, evangelist Cotton Mather, and young Benjamin Franklin. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the precarious nature of American colonial life.
Eric Jay Dolin is the best-selling author of Leviathan and Brilliant Beacons. He and his family live in Marblehead, Massachusetts, from which the pirate John Quelch departed in 1703, and returned to in 1704.
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Dancing with the Future
Tuesday, September 25
7 pm
Harvard, Farkas Hall, 12 Holyoke Street, Cambridge
On 25 September at 7pm, five dancers and two scientists will take to the stage of Harvard University’s Farkas Hall and push the boundaries of art and science, fusing dance, evolutionary dynamics, and an interactive game.
Dancing with the Future is a collaboration between the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics of Harvard University and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. The performance explores mechanisms of cooperation and investigates a question that is at the heart of all sustainable development, yet remains widely elusive as it entails a moral component that cannot easily be assessed: Are humans able to cooperate with future generations? In other words, what kind of planet are we willing to leave behind for the people who come after us? To enable broad access, tickets for the premiere can be purchased for a nominal fee of US$ 10 (general admission) / US$ 5 (with Student ID) through the Harvard Box Office at https://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=evolutionary
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Boston Science for the People chapter meeting
Tuesday, September 25
7:00-9:00 p.m.
MIT, Cambridge, room to be determined
More information available from wkyih@yahoo.com
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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 Events: http://calendar.mit.edu
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
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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