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 July 31
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11am Next Generation WiFi
12am Trump's ‘America First’ Trade Agenda: What It Means for Access to Medicines
7pm Boston Gospel + Technology Hub - July gathering
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Tuesday, August 1
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: ContributeCloud.com, Kinetica, ErgoSensePro, HoliSym
9am Sourcing Locally and the Local Food Movement: A Roundtable Discussion
2pm Live from the Deep Ocean
3pm NETWORKED PLAYSCAPES: Redefining the Playground
7pm Summer Lightning Talks at Upstatement
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Wednesday, August 2
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2pm How biological memory really works: Insights from the man with world's best memory
6pm ArtScienceConverged: Jeff Lieberman & Dan Paluska Exhibition Unveiling + Talk
7pm The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
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Thursday, August 3
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8:30am NE Clean Energy Council's Annual Legislative Roundup
5:30pm Envision Cambridge Walkshop: Cambridge Street east of Inman Square
6:30pm 3DHEALS Boston : Healthcare 3D Printing and Converging Technologies
7pm Mozilla Science Lab - Open Research Extravaganza
7pm African Manatees and Sea Turtles: Conservation Challenges and Successes
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Friday, August 4
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7pm Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults
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Monday, August 7
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6pm Clean Energy Reception
6:15pm The Social, Economic and Legal Impact of AI and Automation - an Expert Panel
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Tuesday, August 8
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3pm Nobody’s Listening
4pm MOVING FROM ISSUES TO ACTION: Training On Community Organizing
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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 July 31
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Next Generation WiFi
Monday, July 31
11:00am - 12:00pm
Tufts, Halligan Hall, Room 209, 161 College Avenue, Medford
Dr. Arogyaswami Paulraj, Professor Emeritus Electrical and Computer Engineering Stanford University
This talk will address the current trends in evolution of the 802.11 standard and then focus on 11ax (HE) < 6 GHz standard. We will discuss shortcomings of current WiFi technology and some of the fixes promised by 11ax. The need for performance modeling of 11ax in typical deployment and application scenarios will be highlighted. The role of machine learning and analytics in future WiFi network managements will also be touched on.
Bio: Paulraj is an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University and a pioneer in MIMO Wireless. He has graduated 50 doctoral and post-doctoral scholars at Stanford.
Paulraj's recognitions include the 2014 Marconi Prize and
the 2011 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell medal. He is a
member of eight National Academies including those of USA, China, India and Sweden. He is a fellow of IEEE and AAAS.
Paulraj is a Visiting Professor at the Beijing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, the Imperial College, London and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
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Trump's ‘America First’ Trade Agenda: What It Means for Access to Medicines
Monday July 31
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Harvard Global Health Institute Conference Room, 42 Church St. Cambridge, MA 02138
Featuring GAiA Affiliate John Stubbs
US foreign policy regulates, incentivizes and subsidizes access to medicines for patients around the world, from intellectual property protection and market access commitments in trade agreements to assistance programs like PEPFAR. What existing policies is President Trump likely to change, what new policies will his administration introduce, and how will these changes affect global health outcomes?
About Global Access in Action
Global Access in Action, a project of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, conducts action-oriented research into access to lifesaving medicines, and alternative incentives for the development of medical treatments for underserved populations. Improving access and promoting socially beneficial innovation are key strategies for combatting the communicable disease burden that disproportionately harms the world’s most vulnerable populations.
About the GAiA Brown Bag Series
The GAiA brown bag series, "Conversations in Global Health, Innovation & the Digital World," is a collaboration with the Harvard Global Health Institute to facilitate discussion among researchers, scholars, practitioners, and others engaged in the development of legal and policy frameworks that govern innovation and global commercialization of medicines.
About John Stubbs
A former staffer with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), John Stubbs is a Fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society where he is researching transparency and international trade agreements.
From 2001-2007 John served three consecutive USTRs to advance US objectives among foreign and domestic constituencies. John created numerous initiatives to increase stakeholder participation in trade policy development, including the first online access ramp for US private sector advisors to view classified materials. During John’s time at USTR, the United States successfully launched the Doha Development Agenda at the WTO and approved Free Trade Agreements with 13 countries.
In 2007 John founded Romulus Global Issues Management, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that helps executives navigate cross-border issues related to crisis, transition or growth. In particular, John’s work focuses on technology transfer, adoption and uptake in emerging markets. Romulus consultants have worked in more than 80 countries and clients include multinational corporations, startups and non-governmental organizations.
John has played a role in creating several new ventures. He founded the Global Innovation Forum and led the organization from 2009-2014. In 2008 John helped launch Farmstead Wines, a boutique importer of sustainably produced wines, and in 2011 he co-founded ecommerce company The Daily Hookup, Inc.
John received his BA in economics from George Washington University where he was President of GW’s policy debate team. He is a board member of the National Foreign Trade Council Foundation, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Krewe of Bacchus in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Boston Gospel + Technology Hub - July gathering
Monday, July 31
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
CIC Cambridge, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-gospel-technology-hub-july-gathering-tickets-34265933329
This will be our second gathering, following up on our first gathering in May. The focus of this event will be on what's already happening elsewhere. Agenda:
Agenda:
Presentation on "Resources to Help Christians Grow in Integrating Faith and Tech"
Highlights from this year's International Conference on Computing and Mission
Updates since last meeting, prayer
Going forward: leadership and structure
Bring your ID to the front desk and tell the deskperson that they're going to the 3rd floor. Feel free to bring your dinner along. We'll hopefully have some light snacks. (No need to bring your "ticket".)
Can't make it? Leave your email so we can share what we learn!
(Photo courtesy of FaithTech.ca, who are facilitating similar gatherings in other cities.)
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Tuesday, August 1
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Boston TechBreakfast: ContributeCloud.com, Kinetica, ErgoSensePro, HoliSym
Tuesday, August 1
8:00 AM
O'Reilly, 2 Avenue de Lafayette, Boston
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Food & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
ContributeCloud.com: Air cDMS - John McKenney
Kinetica: Kinetica DB - Karthik Lalithraj
ErgoSensePro: ErgoSenseHealth - Aleck Alexopoulos
HoliSym - Merav Ozair
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words Boston TechBreakfast Sponsors:
ConferenceEdge - EVENTS to the power of Edge
DLA Piper (Boston) - DLA Piper is a global business law firm that provides corporate, IP, capital raising and other legal advice to technology startups and high growth businesses.
G2 Tech Group - Managed DevOps for startups and small businesses
hedgehog lab - hedgehog lab is a technology consultancy that designs and builds great apps for mobile
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Sourcing Locally and the Local Food Movement: A Roundtable Discussion
Tuesday, August 1
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
SBN Board Room, 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge
Join SBN and leaders in the local food movement for a roundtable discussion on best practices and challenges of sourcing locally! Local Food Luminaries will kick off the discussion by sharing their own stories, and the conversation will flow from there!
Find and share creative ideas for using seasonal and local ingredients, discuss stories of success, and network with industry professionals, food suppliers, and other players in the local food movement!
Light refreshments and breakfast treats will be provided.
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Live from the Deep Ocean
Tuesday, August 1
2:00pm
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street. Cambridge
Join us for a live glimpse of the biological diversity of previously unexplored areas in the deep sea off California. The museum will host a live Q&A with Peter R. Girguis, Harvard Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Jennifer Berglund, Exhibit Developer for the Harvard Museums and film producer, who are working with an international team aboard the E/V Nautilus.
The research team is exploring areas of the deep sea that are nearly devoid of oxygen, and trying to understand the diversity of animal and microbial life in those areas. They will be using unmanned, remotely operated underwater vehicles for collecting imagery and samples from the deep sea. They will also be testing several components of the ABISS (Autonomous Biogeochemical Instrument for In Situ Studies), the very first deep sea “wireless broadband” observatory developed by Peter and his team.
The live Q&A will be on Tuesday August 1st at 2 PM from the Geological Lecture Hall at the Harvard Museum of Natural History at 24 Oxford Street. You’ll see the ocean, from the water column to the seafloor down at 3800 feet (1100 meters), live and in high definition from the deep-diving robotic submarine. Audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions of Dr. Girguis and Ms. Berglund in a conversation moderated by Ms. Erin Callahan, a science communications student at Boston University.
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NETWORKED PLAYSCAPES: Redefining the Playground
Tuesday, August 1
3:00pm — 5:00pm
MIT, Building E15 - 050 (Bartos), 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Edwina Portocarrero
Committee: V. Michael Bove, Principal Research Scientist
Neri Oxman, Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of the Practice in Media Arts and Sciences
In recent years the world became mostly urban, communication untethered and objects surpassed humans connected to the internet. We are being shaped by the intersection of urbanization and ubiquitous computing. “Smart Cities” offer an efficiency driven solution by “programming” the city. But this centralized approach forgets that it is the people that make the city and that playing is central to being human. Digital or physical, play is an act of creation and appropriation, a respite in a world geared towards consumption, efficiency and technological determinism.
Simultaneously, playgrounds are suffering abandonment. Poorly designed, they are deemed childish and boring, the streets insecure, and parents too busy. Portable computing devices have taken over most of the playtime and confined it to human-screen interaction. With less time spent outdoors; social networks and video games are important hubs where we converge to play mediated, across distance, with people we might never meet.
This dissertation proposes that advantages of connected play need not be exclusive to the indoors, and that playgrounds today need no real estate. Additionally, it hypothesizes connected play in the public space enhances the social integration function that playgrounds have served as architectural constructs.
Drawing from research in play, cognitive development, ubiquitous computing, architecture, telepresence and urban planning this dissertation posits the redesign of playgrounds into Networked Playscapes. Grounded in the public space, they take existing urban affordances and add largely-invisible technological underpinnings so as to support connected play.
Deployed in Mexico City, Networked Playscapes is illustrated through three experiments: Triciclo, Andamio and ListenTree. Placed at areas with a high index of marginalization and designed with a broad definition of play, they provide infrastructure for connection at different scales while centering on ludic interaction as the purpose to come together across divisions.
Space informs play as much as play can inform space. This thesis will discuss design guidelines driven from local idiosyncrasy and physical affordances for grounding and place making and proposes taking the telepresent quality of imaginative play as the parameter to make congruous use of physical computing embedded in architectural constructs and nature itself.
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Summer Lightning Talks at Upstatement
Tuesday, August 1
7:00 PM
Upstatement, 133 Portland Street, 4th floor, Boston
Come join us for an evening of Lightning Talks from across Boston Media: new products! new technology! new research! new friends!
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Wednesday, August 2
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How biological memory really works: Insights from the man with world's best memory
Wednesday, August 2
2:00pm to 3:30pm
MIT, Building 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
How biological memory really works: Insights from the man with world's best memory (and why computer metaphors like read/write operations, engrams, and traces are all wrong)
Jim Karol exhibited no particular talent for memorizing anything early in his life. Far from being a savant, his grades in school were actually pretty bad and, after failing to graduate from college, he spent his 20's working in a factory. He only started playing around with mnemonic techniques at the age of 49, merely as a means to amuse himself while he worked out on the treadmill. Then, in one of the most remarkable cognitive transformations in human history, he turned himself into the man with the world's greatest memory. Whatever vast body of information is put before him -- the US zip codes, the day of the week of every date in history, the first few thousand digits of pi, etc. -- he voraciously commits to memory using his own inimitable mnemonic techniques. Moreover, unlike most other professional memorists, Jim has mastered the mental skill of permanently storing that information in long-term memory, as opposed to only short or medium-term memory. How does he do it?
To be sure, Jim has taken standard menmonic techniques to the next level. That said, it has been well-documented for over 2500 years that mnemonic techiques -- such as the "Method of Loci" or the "Memory Palace" -- dramatically enhance the memory capacity of anyone who uses them regularly. But is there any point to improving one's memory in the age of the computer? Tony Dottino, the founder/executive director of the USA Memory Championship and a world reknown memory coach, will describe his experiences of teaching these techniques to all age groups.
Finally, does any of this have anything to do with the neuroscience of
memory? McGovern Institute neuroscientist Robert Ajemian argues that it does and that one of the great intellectual misunderstandings in scientific history is that modern-day neuroscientists largely base their conceptualization of human memory on the computer metaphor. For this reason, neuroscientists usually talk of read/write operations, traces, engrams, storage/retrieval distinctions, etc. Ajemian argues that all of this is wrong for the brain, a highly distributed system which processes in parallel. The correct conceptualization of human memory is that of content-addressable memory implemented by attractor networks, and the success of mnemonic techniques, though largely ignored in current theories of memory, constitutes the ultimate proof. Ajemian will briefly outline these arguments.
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ArtScienceConverged: Jeff Lieberman & Dan Paluska Exhibition Unveiling + Talk
Wednesday, August 2
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Doors 6:00pm / Exhibition Unveiling + Talk 6:30pm
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska
Exhibition Unveiling + Talk
Presented as part of ArtScience Converged
ArtScienceConverged, the 24th Experiment of Le Laboratoire, features 15 weeks of dreams shared with us by pioneers of various frontiers. For the 6th week, which focuses on physics, we invited one of our favorite innovation teams, Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska, to deliver a new piece of their design to Le Laboratoire. We invite the public to experience their work during its exhibition, which kicks off with an artist talk on August 2nd.
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The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
Wednesday, August 2
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome travel writer DOUG MACK, author of Europe on Five Wrong Turns a Day, for a discussion of his latest book, The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA.
About The Not-Quite States of America
Everyone knows that America is 50 states and . . . some other stuff. Scattered shards in the Pacific and the Caribbean, the not-quite states—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and their 4 million people are often forgotten, even by most Americans. But they’re filled with American flags, U.S. post offices, and Little League baseball games. How did these territories come to be part of the United States? What are they like? And why aren’t they states?
When Doug Mack realized just how little he knew about the territories, he set off on a globe-hopping quest covering more than 30,000 miles to see them all. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mack examines the Founding Fathers’ arguments over expansion. He explores Polynesia’s outsize influence on American culture, from tiki bars to tattoos, in American Samoa. He tours Guam with members of a military veterans’ motorcycle club, who offer personal stories about the territory’s role in World War II and its present-day importance for the American military. In the Northern Mariana Islands, he learns about star-guided seafaring from one of the ancient tradition’s last practitioners. And everywhere he goes in Puerto Rico, he listens in on the lively debate over political status—independence, statehood, or the status quo.
The Not-Quite States of America is an entertaining account of the territories’ place in the USA, and it raises fascinating questions about the nature of empire. As Mack shows, the territories aren’t mere footnotes to American history; they are a crucial part of the story.
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Thursday, August 3
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NE Clean Energy Council's Annual Legislative Roundup
Thursday, August 3
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
Cost: $0 – $50
NECEC Executive Vice President Janet Gail Besser and NECEC's state coordinators will provide an overview of key clean energy legislation that has emerged from the 2017 state legislative sessions. Learn what new legislation will mean for the clean energy industry, and what to expect in the coming year.
Schedule of the Day:
Breakfast & Networking: 8:30am - 9:00am
Panel Discussion and Q&A: 9:00am - 10:30am
Moderator: Janet Gail Besser, Executive Vice President, NECEC
Dan Bosley, Government Relations Executive, NECEC
Jamie Dickerson, Policy Analyst, NECEC
Kate Epsen, Executive Director, New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association (NHSEA)
Mike Martone, Government Affairs Consultant at Murtha Cullina LLP
Olivia Campbell Andersen, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Vermont
Jeff Marks, Executive Director, Environmental & Energy Technology Council of Maine (E2Tech)
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Envision Cambridge Walkshop: Cambridge Street east of Inman Square
Thursday, August 3
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Corner of Cambridge and Oak Streets, 1337 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Join us for the next Envision Cambridge corridor walking tour!
The latest in a series of "walkshops," Envision Cambridge presents a walking tour of Cambridge Street east of Inman Square. How has this area changed over time and how is it evolving today? How have urban planning decisions affected the development and mobility options along this corridor? The tour will explore how policies and planning have shaped Cambridge Street and the surrounding areas, with particular emphasis on urban form, housing, and mobility.
Participants will meet in front of Inman Square Hardware, on the corner of Cambridge Street and Oak Street at 5:30 p.m. Members of the Envision Cambridge consultant team and Community Development Department staff will lead the tour. The walk will be approximately 1 mile and 1.5 hours.
Please register through this page to reserve your spot in the walkshop. We can accommodate a group of up to 25 participants.
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3DHEALS Boston : Healthcare 3D Printing and Converging Technologies
Thursday, August 3
6:30 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)
Nixon Peabody LLP, 100 Summer St # 2600, Boston
Cost: $22.09 - $43.19
This is our first Boston event for the healthcare 3D printing community. The goal is to allow people with different backgrounds to start a conversation on how to innovate better healthcare applications using 3D printing /bioprintingtechnologies. The conversation will not only include what influencers are working on but also how other emerging technologies like AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, and Robotics could be complementary or integrated into H3DP innovations.
Beer and pizza will be provided.
Agenda:
6:30-7:00 Networking + Registration
7:00-7:10 Sponsors Introduction
7:10-7:15 Dr. Jenny Chen (3DHEALS) on Healthcare 3D Printing Ecosystem
7:15-7:30 Dr. Ritu Gill - 3D Printing in Cardiothoracic Care
7:30-7:35 Q & A
7:35-7:50 Dr. Pat Thayer (Cellink) - Biomaterial and the Future of Bioprinting
7:50-7:55 Q &A
7:55-8:10 Dr. Sanjay Prabhu (CHB) - 3D Printing in Pediatric Care
8:10-8:15 Q&A
8:15-8:30 Bryan Sullivan (Methods 3D)
8:30-8:35 Q&A
8:35-9:00 Panel and QA
9:00 -9:30 Networking and Wrapup
About the Speakers:
Jenny Chen, MD
Jenny is trained as a neuroradiologist, founder/CEO of 3DHEALS, a company focusing on curating healthcare 3D printing ecosystem. Her main interests include medical education, 3D printing in the healthcare sector, and artificial intelligence. She is also a currnt adjunct clinical faculty in the radiology department at Stanford Healthcare.
Sanjay Prabhu, MD
Dr. Sanjay P. Prabhu, MBBS, DCH, FRCR is a Staff Pediatric Neuroradiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He serves as the Director of Advanced Image Analysis Lab and Co-Director of SIMPeds3D Print Service at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Prabhu’s current research interests include high resolution imaging in pediatric patients with epilepsy, brain imaging following sudden death in childhood, value of 3D printing in surgical simulation and developing clinical decision support tools using machine learning.
Ritu Gill, MD
Dr. Ritu R Gill is a clinical radiologist with sub-specialty training in Cardiothoracic and Oncoradiology and a Masters in Public Health (Clinical Effectiveness). She is the Director for Imaging Research, Lung Research Center, Director of thoracic Imaging and Intervention in Advanced Multimodality Imaging operating room (AMIGO) and the Associate Director, Surgical Imaging Innovation, Center for Surgical Innovation at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Her interests include building prognostic models to stratify survival in Chest malignancies. She also has an avid interest in 3D and 4D imaging and 3D modeling and printing.
Patrick Thayer, PhD
Patrick Thayer is the Bioink Officer at CELLINK. Before starting at CELLINK he earned his BS from Georgia Tech in Biomedical Engineering and his PhD from Virginia Tech. He has have worked in various research labs on projects ranging from the influence of pathologic mechanical forces on heart valve phenotypes within strain/pressure bioreactor systems to the engineering of composite scaffolds consisting of micro-fiber and hydrogels for connective tissue engineering. Now on the other side, I hope to use my experiences in academia to develop novel tools and materials for any researcher that wants to get involved or is working in the bioprinting field.
Title: Biomaterials and the Future of Medicine
Summary: Patrick will talk about biomaterials and their translation into bioinks for bioprinting and how emerging technologies such as AR, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, and Robotics will play a role in the future of bioprinting.
Bryan Sullivan
Bio: Bryan is an Electromechanical and Manufacturing Engineer specializing in Additive Laser Sintering Technologies. He previously worked with a custom orthopedic implant manufacturer using powder bed additive laser sintering approaches to manufacturing custom plastic and metal implants and cut guides. He currently works for Methods3D, a subsidiary of Methods Machine Tools. Methods3D is partnered with 3D Systems and Markforged, offering a full portfolio of additive metal and plastic technologies and working to integrate 3D printing with automation and machine tools to offer full turnkey manufacturing solutions.
Title: Integrating Additive Manufacturing into the current manufacturing environment.
Presentation Summary: Bryan will talk about where additive technology currently fits into the manufacturing ecosystem and the ancillary processes that are being developed to fully realize the benefits of 3D Printing Technology.
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Mozilla Science Lab - Open Research Extravaganza
Thursday, August 3
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
MIT, Building E14, 6th floor, Room E14-674, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
OPEN RESEARCH EXTRAVAGANZA! The Mozilla Science Lab is coming to Boston and we’re pairing up to bring together the local open science community here!
EXTRAVAGANZA AGENDA
6:30 - 7:00 - Doors open and informal chit-chat - drinks / light snacks served
7:00 - 7:15 - Introduction - Mozilla Science Lab and Open Research
7:15 - 8:15 - Lightning Talks
Kevin Moerman - Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS)
Abby Cabunoc Mayes - From Open Source to Open Science
Chris Madan - The benefits of open-access data: A case study in brain morphology research
Andrew Thaler - Open Source for an Open Ocean: Developing tools for marine science, conservation, and exploration
Anna Newman - Open Access
Tom Hohenstein - BU Study Group
Phoebe Ayers - MIT Libraries
More to come!!
8:15 - 9:30 - Social / Networking
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African Manatees and Sea Turtles: Conservation Challenges and Successes
Thursday, August 3
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Simons IMAX Theatre New England Aquarium, 1 Aquarium Wharf, Boston
Lucy Keith-Diagne, Ph.D., Founder of the African Aquatic Conservation Fund, Pew Fellow, and New England Aquarium Marine Conservation Action Fund Fellow
Tomas Diagne, Founder of the African Chelonian Institute, Rolex Associate Laureate, and New England Aquarium Marine Conservation Action Fund Fellow
For more than two decades, scientists Lucy Keith-Diagne and Tomas Diagne have been working to study manatees and turtles and to advocate for their protection. During the last 11 years, Lucy has focused her research on the African manatee, which is one of the least understood of the marine mammals of the world and is often referred to as the “forgotten sirenian.” African manatees live in 21 countries on the western side of the continent, along coasts, and up to 3,000 kilometers inland. They are highly susceptible to accidental capture in fishing nets and are hunted almost everywhere they occur. Lucy will speak about her efforts to determine the number of populations across West and Central Africa, to better understand their diet, and lead the first assessments of manatee threats and the search for solutions across the species’ range.
Tomas Diagne researches threats to sea turtles in Senegal’s coastal waters, which are a migratory hub for five species of sea turtles. In recent years, Tomas has documented a troubling number of dead sea turtles washing up on Senegal’s beaches. Tomas will share how in addition to assessing this disturbing trend, he is working to use the data to advocate for the reduction of sea turtle bycatch in Senegalese fisheries and to collaborate with fisheries authorities to achieve this. He will also speak about his work with sea turtle geneticists to understand from which populations the stranded turtles are coming. Join us to hear Lucy and Tomas share the challenges and successes they have experienced while working to study and protect these iconic and threatened species.
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Friday, August 4
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Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults
Friday, August 4
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes prize-winning writer and journalist LAURIE PENNY, author of Penny Red and Unspeakable Things, for a discussion of her latest book, Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults.
About Bitch Doctrine
Smart and provocative, witty and uncompromising, this collection of Laurie Penny's celebrated essays establishes her as one of the most important and vibrant political voices of our time. Bitch Doctrine takes an unflinching look at the definitive issues of our age, from the shock of Donald Trump's election and the victories of the far right to online harassment and the transgender rights movement.
Penny is lyrical and passionate in her desire to confront injustice, and she's writing at the raw edge of a revolution-hungry zeitgeist, a time when it has never been more vital to actively question and fiercely dispute all forms of complacency, including social norms. This darkly comic, often biting yet empathic, revelatory collection will inform, challenge, and engage, and give readers hope and tools for change.
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Saturday, August 5
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Clover Food Lab's Cambridge Beer Crawl
Saturday, August 5
5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cost: $24 – $30
We're celebrating beer licenses at all 4 Cambridge Clover locations with our first-ever Cambridge Beer Crawl, and donating $5 per ticket to the CitySprouts Middle School Program!
Start at CloverHSQ when the clock strikes 5 (or earlier if you're thirsty!). Make your way to as many of our 4 Cambridge locations as you can. Each Clover will be serving a different type of local beer and special snacks to fuel you on your travels. Converge at CloverHFI for an end-of-crawl party with the folks from Aeronaut, Farmer Willie's, Jack's Abby, Mystic, Notch, and Peak, who are leading up our brewer's choice beer menu. The after-party starts at 7 and goes all night (or at least til 10pm.) The pinball machines will be on, the beer will be flowing, and we'll be drawing raffle prizes throughout the night.
Suggested schedule:
STARTING LINE: CloverHSQ (Harvard Square - 1326 Massachusetts Ave)
CRAWL STOP #2: CloverHUB (Inman Square - 1075 Cambridge St)
CRAWL STOP #3: CloverKND (Kendall Square - 355 Main St)
FINISH LINE: CloverHFI (Central Square - 496 Massachusetts Ave)
Your ticket will include:
Your first beer at Clover, then $3.98 per pint afterward
A raffle ticket for each beer you purchase. Win prizes like a brewery swag basket or a Clover custom chef's knife!
Clover snacks throughout your journey
Entry to the end-of-crawl party at CloverHFI (and more snacks to keep you going all night!)
Limited-edition Cambridge Beer Crawl t-shirt
$5 donation to the CitySprouts Middle School Program
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, and $24 per person for groups of 5 or more. We have a limited number of spots (we can only fit so many people into CloverHFI) so act now!
21+ only.
To see our full events calendar, please visit our Events page: http://cloverfoodlab.com/events
Editorial Comment: CitySprouts manages school gardens in Cambridge and Boston. I’ve been donating to them for years.
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Monday, August 7
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Clean Energy Reception
Monday, August 7
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
University of Massachusetts Club, 1 Beacon Street, 32nd Floor, Boston
The Environmental League of Massachusetts and National Wildlife Federation invite you to a Clean Energy Reception for attendees of the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit.
Join Massachusetts legislative leaders and staff for a “Green Reception” and take in the stunning views of Boston high atop Beacon Hill. Hear brief remarks from leaders from the legislature, industry, and state and national advocacy organizations on cutting edge policies on clean energy, including offshore wind and home energy efficiency, and how states can grow jobs and their own renewable energy industries.
To register for this free reception, RSVP here by August 1.
Cosponsors include:
350 Mass for a Better Future
Acadia Center
Charles River Watershed Association
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Now
Climate Action Now
E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs)
Environment Massachusetts
Health Care Without Harm
Mass Audubon
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Project Green Schools
Toxics Action Center Campaigns
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The Social, Economic and Legal Impact of AI and Automation - an Expert Panel
Monday, August 7
6:15 PM
PwC, 101 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
Artificial Intelligence and Automation is changing the world like an Industrial Revolution!
People are concerned about the effect on jobs, competition and society as a whole.
We have assembled a terrific panel of industry experts who will provide us with a glimpse into the future impact of AI.
To be held at PwC's Seaport Offices in Boston.
Speaker list:
Warren Katz – President of Neurala (https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrenkatz/)
Kevin Kroen - Lead Partner in PWC's Financial Services Digital Labor/Robotics Process Automation practice (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-kroen-a5ab223/)
Stephen Lawrence – Head of Quantextual Research Acceleration at State Street Global (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenlawrence/)
Bushan Sethi – PwC Financial Services People & Organization Practice Lead (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhushansethi/)
Stefanie Tellex – Assistant Professor of Robotics and Natural Language Processing at Brown University (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanie-tellex-38468818/)
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Tuesday, August 8
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Nobody’s Listening
Tuesday, August 8
10 am-5 pm
Gallery talk 3 pm
Lightbox Gallery, 32 Quincy Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
Nobody's Listening is an artistic multimedia piece that draws on a database of secrets collected through interactive art installations over the past year. The work expresses human secrets through overlapping computer voices and a visual projection. Why do we trust our phones and computers? Where does the physical self end and the digital self begin? The playful installation explores our intimate but dubious relationship to machines, and reflects back our own humanness.
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MOVING FROM ISSUES TO ACTION: Training On Community Organizing
Tuesday, August 8
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Mintz Levin, One Financial Center, Boston
Join us for an evening workshop that will provide best practices for organizers to effectively advocate and advance issues that impact the Latino community.
You will learn how to organize at the grassroots and grass tops levels, build alliances with other organizations and advance policy issues at the highest levels. You will learn strategies for addressing social issues such as civil rights, voting rights, education, hate crimes legislation, health care legislation, immigration, and 2020 census.
Our Presenters will discuss why these issues matter to the Latino community, and will map out a process of civic engagement, as well as short and long-term tactics to be most effective. You will learn how to define your cause and vision, create specific goals and metrics, find your allies and targets, build a base, find media coverage, and funding.
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Nathalie Rayes, Vice President of Public Affairs, Grupo Salinas. Nathalie Rayes is the VP of Public Affairs for Grupo Salinas (http://www.gruposalinas.com/es) in the U.S., a Mexican conglomerate with US$6 billion in annual sales and 90,000 employees in Mexico, the United States, and Central and South America, and with operations in the broadcasting, retail, banking and financial services, telecommunications and internet. Nathalie is also the Executive Director of Grupo Salinas’ philanthropic arm in the United States, Fundación Azteca America that seeks to improve the quality of life of Latinos by partnering with existing nonprofits to empower, create awareness and motivate change on social and civic issues.
Previously, Nathalie served as Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn Deputy Chief of Staff, directing the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations, serving as chief liaison to federal, state and regional governments and to the Los Angeles City Council, International Trade, Protocol, Immigrant Affairs, as well as Mayor’s appointments to City commissions and boards. Prior to that, she was Senior Policy Advisor to Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Feuer, heading all aspects of Councilmember’s activities with respect to citywide legislation and ordinances impacting the Fifth Council District. Nathalie also served as a Department of State Fellow in the Economic/Political Section of the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
Hector E. Sanchez, Chairman, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. Hector Sanchez is the Executive Director of Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (http://lclaa.org) and the Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (https://nationalhispanicleadership.org). In 2012, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry appointed Sanchez as co-chair of the Hispanic Council on Federal Employment to help advice the agency on leading employment practices in the effort to remove barriers to recruiting, hiring, retaining, and advancing Hispanics in the Federal workforce. He is a member of the Kennedy Center’s new Latino Advisory Council, the Vice-Chair of the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC) and a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP).
Prior to joining LCLAA, Sanchez was the DC-Mexico Policy Education Director at Global Exchange, the Policy and Community Liaison for the Education Trust, and a professor of US-Mexico Relations at the Autonomous University of the City of Juarez, Mexico. Sanchez holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Zuraya Tapia, Principal, The Raben Group. As a Principal at The Raben Group (https://rabengroup.com), Zuraya brings over ten years of experience in government affairs from both the public and private sector. Zuraya combines substantial experience in public policy and advocacy work in Washington, DC with deep ties to both the Hispanic and Latin American community in DC and in Latin America.
Her time in the House of Representatives and Capitol Hill relationships complement her unique knowledge from off the Hill, stemming from having headed non-profit organizations, coalitions, and time in a Fortune 50 company. Zuraya has built creative alliances to advance a variety of issues, including diversity in the federal government, diversity in corporate America, immigration reform, and international trade.
Before joining Raben, Zuraya was Vice President for Public Affairs at UPS, a unique role that combined a federal government affairs portfolio with an international affairs portfolio of issues. At UPS she took the company’s Public Affairs department in new directions, entering into new partnerships with key Hispanic associations and groups that UPS had not previously explored in order to amplify support for the company’s positions on globalization and border facilitation. She is a regular commentator on CNN en Español, Telemundo, NTN24, and Univision.
Stay tuned for the detailed agenda.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, August 9
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Cool, Clean, and Warm: Workshop on Clean Heating Solutions and Incentives
Wednesday, August 9
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 16th Floor Edison Room, Boston
Cost: $25 – $35
Did you know that in Massachusetts, more greenhouse gas emissions come from heating than from power generation? Most heating is fueled by natural gas, fuel oil, or inefficient electric resistance. Fortunately, there are cleaner alternatives.
Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) are becoming a common solution. Modern variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pumps offer highly efficient heating and cooling while improving comfort for building occupants. Heat pumps typically require 50 to 75% less electricity than electric resistance heaters and can be powered by electricity from renewable sources.
In this workshop hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council of Massachusetts, you will learn from Mitsubishi Electric and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) about how VRF can provide superior, zonal comfort while cutting energy use and helping to meet green building standards. MassCEC will also discuss its new VRF incentive program and provide an overview of incentives for ductless mini-splits, geothermal heat pumps, central biomass, and solar thermal.
Speaker: Josh Kessler at MassCEC
Josh Kessler is a program manager at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center where he oversees a series of incentive programs to support clean heating technologies. He recently spearheaded the design and launch of MassCEC’s VRF rebate program and has now turned his attention to increasing awareness and performance of the technology. Previously, Mr. Kessler worked in the consulting and utilities sectors. He has a BA from Bucknell University and an MBA from Arizona State University.
Speaker: Dan Swanson at Mitsubishi Electric
Dan Swanson is a member of the Mitsubishi Electric commercial sales team in the greater Boston area. He has 7 years in the HVAC industry, and is finishing up his second year with Mitsubishi Electric. Dan’s main focus is Variable Refrigerant Flow technology and supporting Engineers, Architects, and Contractors towards its proper application. Prior to Mitsubishi he spent time as a project manager for both a design firm and mechanical contractor.
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Turing's Mill
Wednesday, August 9
10 am-5 pm
Gallery talk 3 pm
Lightbox Gallery, 32 Quincy Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
Technologies are emerging that prompt a new public dialogue around the nature of cognition, consciousness, and the self. And yet questions underpinning this dialogue have fascinated philosophers throughout history. Is the mind a machine, like a mill or mechanical calculator; or is it spirit or essence, something made of colorless, massless, motionless stuff, transcendent and eternal? Can machines think—and have they been thinking all along? A multi-channel video installation, Turing's Mill is a kind of dossier of evidence for addressing these questions, gathered from found footage, new imagery, and the history of technology.
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Robots vs. disease: How microscopes are helping to discover new medicines
Wednesday, August 9
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge
Anne E. Carpenter, Director, Imaging Platform, Broad Institute
While scientists are identifying more and more diseases, the pace of discovery for new, life-saving drugs remains astonishingly slow. In this talk, Anne Carpenter, director of the Broad Institute Imaging Platform, will cover how automated microscopes and advanced software may transform the drug discovery pipeline by providing new and more rapid insights into cellular biology.
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Mass Innovation Nights 101
Wednesday, August 9
6pm-8:30pm
MIT, Chang Building (E52), Floor 7, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Our next event, Mass Innovation Nights 101, will be hosted by MIT Sloan Executive Education and will feature new startups influencing innovation and tackling process improvement. Join us at MIT Sloan on the 7th floor of Building E52 in the Samberg Conference Center for one of the best views in the Boston area and a night of networking and new product showcases. Share the event on social media using #MIN101 and tweet us at @MITSloanExecEd and @MassInno.
Across MIT, some of the world’s most audacious thinkers are launching change. They are the MIT Sloan Executive Education faculty. Their innovations and inventions reverberate throughout boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms around the globe. Our participants embrace the opportunity to be close to these experts—as well as among them—in order to take advantage of the tools and methods learned to navigate the business challenges they face every day. Our portfolio of 40+ non-degree programs includes courses like Systematic Innovation of Products, Processes, and Services; Marketing Innovation; the Entrepreneurship Development Program; Leadership by Design: Innovation Process and Culture; and more. Save 15% when you enter Referral Code MIN101 on the program application form by 12/31/17. (Some exclusions apply.) Learn more.
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Thursday, August 10
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Energy Storage: A Vital Element in a Lower Carbon World
Thursday, August 10
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 5th Floor, Windrose Room, Boston
Cost: $50 – $65
Whether the reason is Energy Independence, National Security or Climate Change, reducing our use of Carbon will be critical to our society’s future. One critically important aspect about fossil fuels is that they are not just forms of energy, they are forms of “stored” energy. If we are going to reduce our dependence on them by using renewable energy like Wind or Solar, which are forms of pure energy, we will also have to replace the storage aspect of them. Energy Storage on both the Grid side and Building side of the meter will be covered along with their respective applications.
The talk will cover how Energy Storage, in general, is a critical element of the future Grid and Net Zero building and the different type of storage and applications focusing on Thermal Storage since it is the low hanging fruit considering cost, life, and energy. All types of storage are needed and understanding their different strengths is important.
More about the speaker Mark MacCracken, CEO of Calmac
Mark M. MacCracken is the CEO of CALMAC Corp., which is the largest manufacturer of Thermal Energy Storage equipment in the world, with over 4,000 installations in over 50 countries.
In his over 40 years with the firm, MacCracken has been involved in all aspects of the company including, R&D, contracts, patents, manufacturing, marketing, and finance. He was the Principal Investigator on research projects with Oak Ridge National Labs, NASA and National Renewable Energy Research Lab. In his continual support of energy efficiency, he is regularly in contact with the DOE, EPA, EPRI and electric utilities across the country and around the world.
MacCracken has his BS in Mechanical Engineering, has three U.S. Patents and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey and a LEED Fellow.
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Future Of Outbreak Response Symposium
Thursday, August 10
10:00am to 5:00pm
Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge
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Sherlock
Thursday, August 10
10 am-5 pm
Lightbox Gallery, 32 Quincy Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
Chatbots are curious, sometimes helpful, and sometimes mystifying “creatures.” The subject of this installation is a chatbot named Sherlock, touted to be among the most advanced, intelligent AIs on the planet. So why would it want to talk to humans? This interactive installation will invite visitors to chat with Sherlock, a chatbot unlike one they’ve ever met.
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Boston Climate Action Network Meeting
Thursday, August 10
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
We're working towards fighting climate change through improved energy policy and education at the local level in Boston. The BCAN Action Team meeting is a great way to get directly involved in the effort to combat climate change in the era of Trump. We gather twice per month on the 2nd and 4th Thursday from 6-8pm at First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain.
Come meet the Communications Team, the Arts Team, and other dedicated climate campaigners to learn how you can help us plan outreach for the Community Choice Energy campaign.
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SUSTAINABILITY COLLABORATIVE WITH BOSTON CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK
Thursday, August 10
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Venture Cafe at Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RENEWABLES FOR ALL IN BOSTON Presented by Alice Tilton, Boston Climate Action Network
Cities across the country are cutting their carbon emissions and making renewable power available to all electric ratepayers through Community Choice Energy (CCE). We’ll look at CCE’s equity and emissions impacts in Boston and discuss the intersection of political action and consumer action in combating climate change.
The Boston Climate Action Network is a climate justice organization that works to broaden the constituency for a green economy and frame climate concerns to resonate with Boston residents‰۪ daily lives. Through popular education, creative communications, and a unified messaging strategy, BostonCAN works to unify diverse constituencies behind a clean energy vision relevant to broad sectors of society.
Learn more at:
The Sustainability Collaborative was spurred as an outgrowth of the Sustainability unConference and aims to provide an ongoing platform for collaboration, connections, and solutions generation. Rotating sustainability advocates are given the chance to facilitate group discussion around central sustainability themes ranging from hunger alleviation to impact investing. The goal is to raise awareness within the innovation community while strengthening the social impact ecosystem.
Hosted monthly as part of The Venture Cafe Foundation’s Cafe Night at Kendall gathering at CIC Cambridge.
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Refugee Crisis in Europe
Thursday, August 10
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Beacon Hill Friends House, 8 Chestnut Street, Boston
A German Quaker and three other visitors from Germany will speak about the refugee crisis in Europe. Topics covered will include Germany’s postwar experience of integrating over ten million German refugees, Angela Merkel's current policies, and the varied responses from the German populace to the arrival of over a million refugees in the past few years.
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Friday, August 11 - Sunday, August 13
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10th Annual Greenfest
Friday, August 11 - Sunday, August 13
Boston City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Square, Boston
Welcome to the region's largest multicultural environmental music and art festival!
A few things going on at this FREE event?
3 Stages with Live Music and Dance Performances (from more than 20 countries!)
Showcase of Green Innovation and Exhibits: Robots - Cars - Bikes
An Eco-Fashion Show Featuring Local Designers
Community-wide Art Pieces and Exhibitions
Free Fitness Classes: Yoga - Zumba - BollyX
Green Film Festival - World Documentaries
GreenFest Talks from inspiring leaders and innovators
Discussion EcoForums
International Youth Summit on Environmental Problems
Delicious Local Food Emproium and International Cuisines
Wine & Beer Garden
A Domino Tournament!
EcoKid Events: Pony Rides - Petting Zoo - Art - STEM Projects
and much, MUCH more.
Boston GreenFest is a community classroom. It allows everyone to learn and explore together. Come join us and wake up the innovator that is inside us all.
Join us for a celebration of life and possibility, providing you with ideas and interactive experiences that can shape your life and the global future.
Turn off your AC and TVs, call your friends and neighbors, connect with your community and come explore Boston GreenFest!
Our theme this year is #PositiveSolidarity!
Visit our website for more details and full schedule: http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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Friday, August 11
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10th Annual Greenfest Forums
Friday, August 11
10am
Faneuil Hall, Boston
More information at http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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Color Rx
Friday, August 11
10-4 pm
Gallery talk 3 pm
Lightbox Gallery, 32 Quincy Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
Color is ephemeral and complex. Its history, its substance, and its context link inextricably to our perceptions and experience. Color Rx uses a computer algorithm to diagnose a viewer’s subjective inputs and “prescribe a color” in response. The piece is grounded in questions about trust in or benefit from “smart” systems, often in contexts where the algorithms are opaque -- even when the output is very concrete (and in this case, colorful). In what ways is this system smart? Is it also intuitive, or even wise? The installation contends with the meaning we ascribe to perceptions and experiences, especially when such experiences are designed for individual consumption. While many algorithmic forms of diagnosis can be shallow, the benefits can be deep. Drawing on historical information from the Forbes Pigment Collection, citations to scholarly texts, and the artist’s personal store of knowledge and intuition in the field, this piece explores the line between belief and truth, projection and reality, color and illusion.
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10th Annual Greenfest
Friday, August 11
12am
City Hall Plaza, Boston
More information at http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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Saturday, August 12
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10th Annual Greenfest Forums
Saturday, August 12
10am
Faneuil Hall, Boston
More information at http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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AI Senses
Saturday/Sunday, August 12-13, 10 am-5 pm
Gallery talk Saturday, August 12, 3 pm
Lightbox Gallery, 32 Quincy Street, 5th floor, Cambridge
In current times, “machine learning” and “artificial intelligence” are buzzwords. But they are more than that—they influence our behaviors and understandings of the technologies they describe and the world they make. A lack of understanding of how these systems operate on their own terms is dangerous. How can we live and interact with this alien species, which we set forth into the world, if we know it through interfaces constructed to make the machine feel closer to the world we already know? This project visualizes sensor data that our cell phones and personal computers collect and digest on our behalf, to help us understand how these machines experience the world.
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Sunday, August 13
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10th Annual Greenfest Forums
Sunday, August 13
10am
Faneuil Hall, Boston
More information at http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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Tuesday, August 15
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Boston New Technology August 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT80 (21+)
Tuesday, August 15
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
LogMeIn, 333 Summer Street, Boston
Cost: $10
This event is 21+. Show security your valid photo identification at the door. Enter the lobby and come to our check-in table. Type the first few letters of your first or last name on the screen and tap your name to print your name tag.
Come learn about 6 innovative and exciting technology products and network with 100+ attendees from the Boston/Cambridge startup community! This event is 21+, due to alcohol being served. Valid photo identification is required. Buy your ticket now and save 50% - price rises to $20 on August 8th.
Each presenter gets 5 minutes for a product overview & demonstration and 5 minutes for Q&A.
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Opportunity
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Greenfest Looking for Volunteers
10th Annual Boston GreenFest will be at Boston City Hall Plaza, August 11-13, 2017. It is the largest multicultural environmental music festival in the region featuring lots of local and international exhibits, performances, films, food, fashion and forums. Our goal is to educate and empower people to create a more sustainable, healthier world. We are actively building an interconnected, ever expanding network throughout our neighborhoods, city and region. From business to nonprofit, neighborhood association to academic institution, Boston GreenFest spans age, culture and industry. Celebrating our 10th anniversary, Boston GreenFest is excited to bring this wonderful free three-day festival to Boston City Hall Plaza as it is transformed into a fun interactive community classroom.
We are looking for volunteers to help throughout the weekend.
Please visit: http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
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New Climate CoLab Contests:
Adaptation
Buildings
Carbon Pricing
Energy Supply
Land Use Change
Shifting Attitudes & Behaviors
Transportation
More information at https://www.climatecolab.org/
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Discounted Solar for Somerville
As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.
The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.
Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.
Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.
"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.
Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.
"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.
Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less.
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions. It also saves money for residents.
Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule
For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:
Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville
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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!
Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.
The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org
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"Greening Our Grid" Report Released April 24, 2017
MAPC is excited to announce the release of “Greening Our Grid,” a fact sheet and a case study detailing MAPC’s strategy to use municipal aggregation to help build new renewable energy in New England.
“Greening Our Grid” highlights MAPC's work with the City of Melrose as a case study for MAPC's innovative green municipal aggregation strategy. Melrose recently completed its first year of implementation. The city’s results demonstrate that economic and environmental goals can be met simultaneously, and provide a compelling example for others to follow.
The case study and fact sheet further describe the renewable energy strategy overall, why it can have a real impact on our electricity grid, and MAPC’s program to help other municipalities follow Melrose's lead. Arlington, Brookline, Gloucester, Hamilton, Millis, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester are poised to roll out their green aggregations within the year.
MAPC believes that municipal aggregation offers an opportunity for communities to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and businesses to transform our electric grid to cleaner sources of energy, while also providing cost savings and price stability for electricity. The fact sheet and case study will be useful tools for cities and towns that are exploring green municipal aggregation, as well as for those that already have active aggregation programs.
Check out “Greening Our Grid” today at http://www.mapc.org/greening-our-grid, and contact Patrick Roche, MAPC Clean Energy Coordinator, at proche@mapc.org for more information about MAPC's program.
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Cambridge Climate Change Game
Extending our work on face-to-face games, the MIT Science Impact Collaborative has developed a digital game on the health impacts of climate change that you can play alone on your computer or on your mobile phone. The game should take about 10-20 minutes. We would appreciate it if you could play the game at your convenience.
Play the game at http://www.doublecoconut.com/climate/
Any and all feedback on the game should be directed to Ella Kim at ella@mit.edu.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info@bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy: https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 colleges and universities at Hubevents: http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://calendar.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://mitenergyclub.org/
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
Take Action MA: http://takeactionma.com
If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 11 AM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
