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, June 3
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3pm (Our Humanity Is) Unbroken by Bars: A Reception and Conversation
6:30pm Dissecting the Human Microbiome in Health and Disease
7pm Innovations to Eradicate Global Poverty
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Tuesday, June 4
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8am Grand Rounds: Mediterranean Diet to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases of Aging
8:30am How to Design our Roads for People Biking in Massachusetts - Boston area training
10am New Research on Multi-Family Zoning in Greater Boston
5:30pm Future of Chocolate: A Conversation with Root Capital & Taza Chocolate
6:30pm How Science Fiction Inspired Science
6:30pm Now Is a Great Time to Go Solar! Come Find Out Why!
6:30pm Stepping Up: Business In The Era Of Climate Change Part 5 (Energy Transitions)
7pm This All-at-Onceness Book Launch
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Wednesday, June 5
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5:30pm Spider's Canvas / Arachnodrone Pop-up Live Demonstration
6pm The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets
6:30pm History Matters: Interracial But Not Integrated: African Americans, Indians, and New England’s Colonial Churches
7pm The Nightingale's Sonata: The Musical Odyssey of Lea Luboshutz
7pm The Arts & Crafts Houses of Massachusetts
7pm Green Home Conversations, hosted by Sustainable Milton
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Thursday, June 6
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9am Solar Prize Set! Demo Day
11am It’s Resilience, Stupid! Presenting New Approaches to Urban Resilience
12pm WEBINAR | Weaponizing science for the greater good
2:30pm Climate Generation: Book Launch with Bill McKibben
5:30pm DATA – WILL IT CURE HEALTHCARE?
6pm LASER Boston: Collaborating Across Species
6pm Compost Compendium
6pm Farming While Black
6pm Map This: Sustainable Fashion Opening Reception at Urbano
6pm IDEO Cambridge Presents: Change by Design | The Future of Health
6pm Navigating Wellness in the Digital Age
6pm NonViolence DA Training
7pm Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
7pm 2019 Emergency Meet for Climate Justice
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Friday, June 7
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7:15am Disruptive Climate, Disruptive Technologies
9:30am 2019 CMD Symposium on Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications
12:30pm A Climate Risk Assessment of Sovereign Bonds’ Portfolio
1pm Greentown Labs DEMO Day 2019
7pm War and Peace: FDR's Final Odyssey: D-Day to Yalta, 1943–1945 (FDR at War #3)
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Saturday, June 8
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9am Applied Permaculture 8: Learning to use a scythe and medicinal herbalism
10am Boston Sci-Ed Innovators STEM Showcase and Expo
12pm Dance for World Community Festival Day
2:30pm Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest - New England's Own Locally Brewed
7pm Playing For The Planet: World Music Against Climate Change
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Sunday, June 9
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Bikes Not Bombs Bike-a-thon
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Monday, June 10
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8:45am A Workshop on Atmospheric Dynamics and Transport
1pm Innovative Financing Strategies for Affordable Housing Forum
6pm Boston New Technology HealthTech Startup Showcase #BNT102 (21+)
6pm Fort Hill Solar Party
7pm Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall
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Tuesday June 11
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8:30am MIT IT Partners 2019 Conference
9am Passive House: A Technical Look
12pm The Creation of Local Agrarian Commons
1pm Pollinator (& Insect) Survey at Fresh Pond
7pm Underland: A Deep Time Journey
7pm Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life
7pm 100 Side Hustles: Chris Guillebeau & Friends in Boston
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
Daily Reminder Calendar for the Next Decade of Climate Change
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Monday, June 3
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(Our Humanity Is) Unbroken by Bars: A Reception and Conversation
WHEN Monday, June 3, 2019, 3 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Gutman Gallery, 6 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Exhibitions, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Gutman Library
SPEAKER(S) Andrea Leverentz, Professor of sociology at UMass: Boston and author of "The Ex-Prisoner’s Dilemma: How Women Negotiate Competing Narratives of Re-entry and Desistance”
DETAILS Join Dr. Andrea Leverentz, professor of sociology at UMass: Boston and author of "The Ex-Prisoner’s Dilemma: How Women Negotiate Competing Narratives of Re-entry and Desistance," as she leads a conversation with two formerly incarcerated women, Lorraine and Ivy, and Lorraine’s mother, Eileen, as they share with us how they navigated re-entering society after incarceration. Through them we will come to understand how important it is to cherish the seemingly small victories accrued during this difficult process: reconnecting with family, finding a voice, expressing gratitude, healing from trauma, among others.
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Dissecting the Human Microbiome in Health and Disease
Monday, June 3
6:30pm
The Burren: 247 Elm Street, Somerville
Alex Kostic
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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Innovations to Eradicate Global Poverty
Monday, June 3
Doors open @ 6pm -- Come early and meet other Long Now thinkers -- Presentation starts @ 7pm
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
Cost: $0 – $15
A Long Now Boston Community Conversation with
Eleanor Murphy, Director of East Coast Development, Acumen
Katherine Collins, Head of Sustainable Investing, Putnam Investments
Extreme poverty has been a “normal” part of the human experience since our species’ origin. For hundreds of years, those who live beyond poverty have been trying to “help” those who are poor. Yet after all of those efforts, and despite the wealth, technology, and connectivity that exists today, deep poverty persists. There must be a better way.
Traditionally, poverty was a charitable concern, to be addressed locally or within ethnic or national boundaries. In the 20th century, a new humanitarian ethic began to emerge, giving rise to big government philanthropy and development. While both private charity and government play important roles, vast populations remain in poverty. Half of the world’s population is poor, and many lack access to infrastructure and resources that would meaningfully improve lives. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879, but electricity does not yet reach one in seven people on earth today. A billion people worldwide live in communities without basic health care. Acumen and Last Mile Health are two philanthropic organizations taking novel approaches to remedy these gross inequities.
Acumen (acumen.org) is a philanthropic organization that embraces a radical approach, rooted in the mission of providing dignity to every human being. It starts by listening to the voices of the unheard. It provides capital that works for, rather than controls, and serves as a means, rather than an end. Innovation is key: Embracing what works; Letting go of what doesn’t; Taking risks supporting entrepreneurs who treat the poor like customers, delivering both profitability and outsized social benefits. The approach requires lots of patience, combined with a healthy infusion of business acumen.
Last Mile Health (lastmilehealth.org) began with a vision of universal justice, quality, and care, and the ambitious goal of achieving access to health care for everyone, everywhere, every day. The focus is centered on the power and effectiveness of community health workers who are part of the communities they serve. By training, equipping, supporting, and paying these professionals, quality care can be delivered effectively. By partnering with government and others in the field, the community benefits are amplified.
Together with other trailblazers whose work is driven by a similar moral compass, these organizations are embracing and navigating the tensions that exist in an interdependent, interconnected world. The goals are lofty, and also achievable: to use innovation, capital, and - most of all - deep human connection, to create a future without the poverty and injustice that have persisted through the millennia.
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.
If Eventbrite tickets sell out, seating for walk-ups will unlikely be available due to room size.
Eleanor Murphy is Director for East Coast Development with Acumen, a philanthropic investment company founded in 2001. Well-versed in impact investing, poverty alleviation and venture philanthropy as well as wealth management, investment philosophy and estate planning, she is a graduate of Boston University in International Relations and Affairs and earned a Masters in Humanities from NOHA, the Network on Humanitarian Action, at the University College of Dublin.
Katherine Collins is Head of Sustainable Investing at Putnam, Founder of Honeybee Capital Foundation and author of the book, The Nature of Investing. Katherine served as a portfolio manager and head of research at Fidelity and then set out to re-integrate her investment philosophy with the broader world, traveling as a pilgrim and volunteer, earning her MTS degree at Harvard Divinity School, and studying biomimicry. Katherine is also the board chair at Last Mile Health.
We’re proud and excited to welcome Eleanor and Katherine to the Long Now Boston community.
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Tuesday, June 4
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Grand Rounds: Mediterranean Diet to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases of Aging
Tuesday, June 4
8-9am (followed by coffee hour)
Bornstein Family Amphitheater, BWH, 45 Francis Street, Boston
Presented by: Samia Mora, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
The Mediterranean diet has been associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events but the precise mechanisms through which Mediterranean diet intake may reduce long-term risk of CVD are not well understood. Dr. Mora and her colleagues aimed to investigate the biological mechanisms that may mediate this cardiovascular benefit.
Research Methods and Findings
Using a prospective study of 25,994 initially healthy women enrolled in the Women’s Health Study who were followed up to 12-years, Dr. Mora evaluated potential mediating effects of a panel of biomarkers (in total 40 biomarkers) that represent different CVD pathways and clinical factors. Women consuming a Mediterranean-type diet had up to a quarter reduction in CVD events over long-term follow-up.
For the MED-CVD risk reduction, biomarkers of inflammation, glucose-metabolism/insulin-resistance, and adiposity contributed most to explaining the association, with additional contributions from pathways related to blood pressure, lipids – in particular HDL or triglyceride-rich lipoprotein metabolism, and to a lesser extent LDL cholesterol, branched chain amino acids, and small molecule metabolites.
Speaker Biography
Samia Mora, MD, MHS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. She is a cardiovascular medicine specialist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she is the Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics.
She also has joint appointments in the Divisions of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Women’s Health.
Dr. Mora received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a cardiovascular disease fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she also obtained a Masters in Health Science (Epidemiology) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board certified in cardiovascular disease and echocardiography, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and American Society of Echocardiography. She also serves on the Editorial Boards of JAMA Internal Medicine and Atherosclerosis.
Dr. Mora’s clinical interests include cardiovascular prevention, lipids, modifiable risk factors, and women’s health. The author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Mora’s research focuses on risk factors and prevention of cardiovascular disease. She is actively involved with several randomized clinical trials and observational studies, having served on the Endpoints Committee of the Women’s Health Study, the Clinical Coordinating Committee of the JUPITER trial, and currently on the Steering Committee of the VITAminD and OmegA-3 Trial (VITAL), and the Harvard Investigator on the Gulf Population Risks and Epidemiology of Vascular Events and Treatment (Gulf PREVENT) study. Dr. Mora recently developed the free Aspirin-Guide mobile app (available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and on the web).
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How to Design our Roads for People Biking in Massachusetts - Boston area training
Tuesday, June 4
8:30 AM – 4:00 PM EDT
MassDOT District 6 Headquarters, 185 Kneeland Street, Boston
Please join us for a training on how to design for people biking in Massachusetts. The training will cover:
Why People Bike
MassDOT’s Goal and Statewide Bike Plan
Principles of Design
Bikeway Types and Selection
Intersection Design
In addition, the training will include design exercises.
Who Should Attend
This training is intended for project designers, planners, and engineers involved with designing roads and facilities that people bike on.
Training Team
Nick Jackson, Toole Design
Ashley Haire, Ph.D., P.E., Toole Design
Michelle Danila, P.E., PTOE, Complete Streets Engineer
Jackie DeWolfe, Director of Sustainable Mobility
Andy Paul, P.E., Highway Design Engineer
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New Research on Multi-Family Zoning in Greater Boston
Tuesday, June 4
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT
MA State House: Room 428, 24 Beacon Street, Boston
Together with our co-hosts Rep. Kevin Honan and Sen. Brendan Crighton, please join us for the release of a new study of multi-family zoning in 100 cities and towns around Greater Boston.
Program
9:45 AM Doors open (coffee and baked goods)
10:00 AM Welcome from Senator Brendan Crighton and Representative Kevin Honan
10:05 AM Introduction by Andre Leroux, executive director Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
10:15 AM Presentation by Amy Dain on State of Multi-Family Zoning in Metro Boston
10:45 AM Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A with:
Amy Dain, Dain Research
Tim Reardon, Data Services Director, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Jeff Rhuda, Business Development Manager for Symes Associates
Lisa Wong, Winchester Town Manager and former Mayor of Fitchburg
11:30 AM Concludes
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Future of Chocolate: A Conversation with Root Capital & Taza Chocolate
Tuesday, June 4
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk Street, #20th floor, Boston
It's time to think about how we can all contribute to chocolate's sustainable future as climate change threatens its long-term viability.
Many of us don't think twice about eating a bar of chocolate; the more chocolate the better! But as climate change threatens the long-term viability of both the plant chocolate comes from and the farmers who grow it, it's time that we think about how we can all contribute to chocolate's sustainable future.
Join Root Capital's Founder & CEO, Willy Foote, and Taza Chocolate's Founder & CEO, Alex Whitmore, for a conversation about the relationship between climate change and chocolate. You'll learn more about how a changing climate affects the farms that chocolate comes from, how farmers can adapt to climate shocks, and how people like you can make sure that chocolate stays around for years to come.
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How Science Fiction Inspired Science
Tuesday, June 4
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
David Toomey, Ph.D., Professor of English Literature, UMass-Amherst and co-director of the English Department’s Professional Writing and Technical Communication Program.
In this presentation via distance (from UMASS-Amherst) Dr.Toomey examines the relationship between science and science fiction. In particular he explains how science fiction often anticipates discoveries in science.
This presentation will be recorded at Belmont Media Center, but after the presentation visitors will be able to ask Dr Toomey questions in the studio.
In addition to his research, Professor Toomey has written a number of science books for lay audiences. His book Weird Life: The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own (W.W. Norton, 2013) was longlisted for the 2014 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, shortlisted for Physics World Book of the Year for 2013, and named an “Editor’s Choice” by the New York Times Sunday Book Review. It appeared in Spanish translation from Biblioteca Buridán in 2015 and Japanese translation from Hakuyosha Publishing in 2016. His book The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics (W.W. Norton, 2007) was among ten nonfiction books named “new and notable” by Scientific American in 2007, and listed among the “Best Sci-Tech Books 2007” by Library Journal.
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Now Is a Great Time to Go Solar! Come Find Out Why!
Tuesday, June 4
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
John M Tobin Elementary School, 197 Vassal Lane, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/now-is-a-great-time-to-go-solar-come-find-out-why-tickets-62451996603
Right now, Cambridge residents, businesses, and nonprofits can save 20% on installation, receive a 30% federal tax credit and apply for a zero-down loan to get the work done! So come learn more! The program, with its 20% discount, only runs until July 31st!
Please join Green Cambridge, Mothers Out Front in Cambridge, 350 Mass Cambridge Node and Neighborhood Solar for an informative presentation on the benefits of installing solar and why now is the perfect time to consider it.
Neighborhood Solar is a local nonprofit working to leverage group buying to make solar power more affordable.
Parents and caregivers: feel free to bring children.
To learn more, go to http://neighborhoodsolar.org
For a free solar assessment and proposal, email Neighborhood Solar at neighborhoodsolar@sunbugsolar.com or call 617-661-6098.
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Stepping Up: Business In The Era Of Climate Change Part 5 (Energy Transitions)
Tuesday, June 4
6:30 pm
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Cost: $15.00
A five-part WBUR series in collaboration with Harvard Business School and Boston University Questrom School of Business
Business is the main source of the greenhouse gases that are causing the Earth’s climate to change. Business is also the main source of new products, services and business models that may save us from wholesale climate calamity. This 5-part series, featuring leading thinkers from business, environmental advocacy groups and area universities, will explore what businesses are doing, can do and should do to confront climate change.
Part 5: Energy Transitions
We cannot confront climate change without wholesale changes in our sources of energy. What companies are leading the transition to fossil-fuel-free energy, what barriers are they facing, and how are they tackling those barriers? How are traditional electric utility shifting their business strategies to accommodate or even promote new, cleaner sources of energy? And how are new entrants to this old sector distrupting the electricity industry with clean energy innovations?
Panelists:
Peter Fox-Penner, Director, Institute for Sustainable Energy, and Professor of Practice, Questrom School of Business
Abigail Ross Hopper, President & CEO at Solar Energy Industries Association
Francis Slingsby, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Orsted
Moderator, WBUR Environmental Reporter Bruce Gellerman
Click the links below to purchase tickets to other events in this series.
Part 1: Open for Business?, March 5
Part 2: Food, Diet, and Climate, April 2
Part 3: Climate Politics and Business, April 22
Part 4: The Road Map of the Future: Transportation, May 7
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This All-at-Onceness Book Launch
Tuesday, June 4
7:00pm
Trident Booksellers, 338 Newbury Street, Boston
Join Julie Wittes Schlack, author of This All-at-Onceness in conversation with Leah Hager Cohen, author of Strangers and Cousins. The conversation between two authors of both fiction and nonfiction will focus on the all-too-porous boundaries between the two. They'll discuss how they chose their genre when writing about broader societal issues, and the ethical quandaries introduced by intermingling what's documented vs. what's imagined.
About the Books
In This All-at-Onceness, Julie Wittes Schlack takes us on a vivid, personal journey through the political and cultural movements that have shaped every generation from the Baby Boomers to the Parkland kids. She examines the unlikely and twisting relationship between idealism and engineering that has promised a future of progress and hope, but only occasionally delivered on it, and asks why.
Her tale begins in 1967, when both the Summer of Love and Our World, the first live broadcast to and from the entire globe, created a sense that a compassionate, progressive global village was in the making. Through the civil rights and anti-war movements to the birth of Second Wave feminism, from the wintery '70s to the shiny rise of corporate culture in the '80s, from the democratic early days of the Web to today's social surveillance state, Wittes Schlack tells a story about idealistic energy and how it travels through time.
Strangers and Cousins is a novel about what happens when an already sprawling family hosts and even larger and more chaotic wedding: an entertaining story about family, culture, memory and community. In the seemingly idyllic town of Rundle Junction, Bennie and Walter are preparing to host the wedding of their eldest daughter. A marriage ceremony at their beloved, rambling home should be the happiest of occasions, but Walter and Bennie have a secret. A new community has moved to Rundle Junction, threatening the social order and forcing Bennie and Walter to confront uncomfortable truths about the lengths they would go to to maintain harmony.
With Strangers and Cousins, Leah Hager Cohen delivers a story of pageantry and performance, hopefulness and growth, and introduces a winsome, unforgettable cast of characters whose lives are forever changed by events that unfold and reverberate across generations.
About the Authors
Julie Wittes Schlack is a regular contributor to Cognoscenti, WBUR's online journal of ideas and opinions, and a former book reviewer for the Boston Globe. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous journals such as Shenandoah, The Writer's Chronicle, Pangyrus, Talking Writing, Ninth Letter, and Mashable. Julie has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, where she is currently an adjunct faculty member. She received a Hopwood Award and was a finalist for the Glimmer Train Fiction Award. Two of the essays in This-all-at-Onceness were finalists for the Annie Dillard Nonfiction Award and the Clarissa Dalloway Nonfiction Award.
Leah Hager Cohen is the author of five works of nonfiction, including Train Go Sorry, and five novels, including The Grief of Others, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She is the Barrett Professor of Creative Writing at the College of the Holy Cross.
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Wednesday, June 5
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Spider's Canvas / Arachnodrone Pop-up Live Demonstration
Wednesday, June 5
5:30pm to 7:30pm
MIT.nano (Building 12), 12-3207, 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Join the creators of Spider's Canvas / Arachnodrone and guest sound designer Nick Joliat in the MIT.nano Immersion Lab (12-3207) for live demonstrations of this interdisciplinary work at 5:30pm and 6:45pm, with a reception with the artists between the two performances.
The live concert of Spider’s Canvas / Arachnodrone is a co-creation of composer and MIT CAST Faculty Director Evan Ziporyn, composer/visual artist Christine Southworth ’02, sound artist Ian Hattwick, spider researcher Isabelle Su, in collaboration with artist Tomás Saraceno, whose originating idea provides the basis of the concert, and MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department Head and McAfee Professor Markus Buehler.
The concert premiered in November 2018 as part of Saraceno’s acclaimed carte blanche exhibition ON AIR at Palais de Tokyo in Paris curated by Rebecca Lamarche Vadel, with the programme supported by Festival d’Automne, Paris.
This project emerged from myriad interactions between different disciplines, in an effort to work together—and extend the boundaries of disciplinary knowledge and practices—toward new understandings of emergent human and non-human entanglements. The technical development of this musical instrument was inspired and made possible by the Spider Web Scan—a novel scientific apparatus and technique for generating precise 3D scans and digital models of complex spider webs—first created by Saraceno in 2009/2010 in collaboration with the TU Darmstadt, and more recently refined in Saraceno’s ongoing collaboration with the MIT Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics (led by Markus Buehler). Based closely on a tent-web made by a semi-social South American Cyrtophora citricola spider, the work is not simply interdisciplinary, but quite literally an interspecies collaboration.
Spider’s Canvas / Arachnodrone is a co-production of MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, MIT Music & Theater Arts, MIT Civil & Environmental Engineering; this installation of the piece was commissioned by MIT.nano, and is hosted in the Immersion Lab, Room 12-3207.
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The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets
Wednesday, June 5
6:00 PM
Harvard Science Center, Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed author and professor GRAHAM FARMELO—author of The Strangest Man, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize—for a discussion of his latest book, The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets. He will be joined in conversation by JACOB BARANDES, Co-Director of Graduate Studies for Physics at Harvard University.
About The Universe Speaks in Numbers
One of the great insights of science is that the universe has an underlying order. The supreme goal of physicists is to understand this order through laws that describe the behavior of the most basic particles and the forces between them. For centuries, we have searched for these laws by studying the results of experiments.
Since the 1970s, however, experiments at the world's most powerful atom-smashers have offered few new clues, so some of the world's leading physicists have looked to a different source of insight: modern mathematics. These physicists are sometimes accused of doing "fairy-tale physics," unrelated to the real world. But in The Universe Speaks in Numbers, award-winning science writer and biographer Graham Farmelo argues that the physics they are doing is based squarely on the well-established principles of quantum theory and relativity, and part of a tradition dating back to Isaac Newton.
With unprecedented access to some of the world's greatest scientific minds, Farmelo offers a vivid, behind-the-scenes account of the blossoming relationship between mathematics and physics and the research that could revolutionize our understanding of reality. A masterful account of the some of the most groundbreaking ideas in physics in the past four decades, The Universe Speaks in Numbers is essential reading for anyone interested in the quest to discover the fundamental laws of nature.
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History Matters: Interracial But Not Integrated: African Americans, Indians, and New England’s Colonial Churches
Wednesday, June 5
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston
Please join us Wednesday, June 5th at 6:30pm for a special History Matters co-presented by the Congregational Library & Archives and Old South Meeting House-"Interracial But Not Integrated: African Americans, Indians, and New England's Colonial Churches". By attendance at services, being baptized, and taking the Lord's Supper, numerous Native Americans and mostly-enslaved African Americans participated in a substantial number of New England churches between the 1730s and 1790s, including the Old South Meeting House and other Boston churches. They did so despite segregated seating arrangements and prohibitions against voting and holding church leadership positions. Join us to hear Professor Richard Boles share about his research into the religious lives of the African Americans and Native Americans who affiliated with eighteenth-century New England churches.
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The Nightingale's Sonata: The Musical Odyssey of Lea Luboshutz
Wednesday, June 5
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
Harvard Book Store welcomes distinguished musician, educator, and author THOMAS WOLF for a discussion of his latest book, The Nightingale's Sonata: The Musical Odyssey of Lea Luboshutz.
About The Nightingale's Sonata
Spanning generations, from the shores of the Black Sea to the glittering concert halls of New York, The Nightingale's Sonata is a richly woven tapestry centered around violin virtuoso Lea Luboshutz. Like many poor Jews, music offered her an escape from the predjudices that dominated society in the last years of the Russian Empire. But Lea's dramatic rise as an artist was further accentuated by her scandalous relationship with the revolutionary Onissim Goldovsky.
As the world around them descends into chaos, between revolution and war, we follow Lea and her family from Russia to Europe and eventually, America. We cross paths with Pablo Casals, Isadora Duncan, Emile Zola and even Leo Tolstoy. The little girl from Odessa will eventually end up as one of the founding faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, but along the way she will lose her true love, her father, and watch a son die young. The Iron Curtain will rise, but through it all, she plays on.
Woven throughout this luminous odyssey is the story is Cesar Franck's "Sonata for Violin and Piano." As Lea was one of the first-ever internationally recognized female violinists, it is fitting that this pioneer was one of the strongest advocates for this young boundary-pushing composer and his masterwork.
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The Arts & Crafts Houses of Massachusetts
Wednesday, June 5
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
At the opening of the twentieth century, Massachusetts architects struggled to create an authentic new look that would reflect their clients’ increasingly informal way of life. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement in England, the result was a charming style that proved especially appropriate for the rapidly expanding suburbs and vacation houses in the state—charming but overlooked, principally because the style is somewhat difficult to describe. The Arts and Crafts Houses of Massachusetts brings these homes, hidden in plain sight, the attention they deserve. Meticulously researched and with abundant color photos, the book is the only work focusing on the state’s Arts and Crafts domestic architecture and the only one to include an illustrated field guide. It is also the first book to explore the use of this cutting-edge style in designing buildings for estate servants, transit workers, and renters—groups that historically lacked access to professionally designed homes.
About the author: Heli Meltsner is a long-time historic preservation consultant, the author of the Poorhouses of Massachusetts: a Cultural and Architectural History (2012) and an editor of Saving Cambridge: Historic Preservation in America’s Innovation City (2013). She is curator of the Cambridge Historical Society and serves on Cambridge’s Avon Hill neighborhood conservation district commission. Heli graduated from Swarthmore College and trained in historic preservation at Columbia School of Architecture. She was also senior planner with the Framingham planning department. A resident of Cambridge, she is passionate about historic houses and helping them survive to tell their stories. Especially memorable for her was a visit to England’s Letchworth Garden City and Voysey’s Perrycroft, both models for the houses in this book.
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Green Home Conversations, hosted by Sustainable Milton
Wednesday, June 5
7 PM
Milton Library, 476 Canton Avenue, Milton
Henry MacLean, Architect
We will overview various completed green projects Henry MacLean has worked on over the years, and discuss some of the impactful information from my piece published in the Milton Times last November, Climate Change and our Homes,
I will review an easy to understand process to track and gauge your current energy use and carbon footprint, accessible energy saving options and green technologies, leading to the ultimate goal of owning a new or renovated Net Zero Energy home.
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Thursday, June 6
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Solar Prize Set! Demo Day
Thursday, June 6
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
Join Greentown Labs, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office in Boston for a national demonstration day event for the American-Made Solar Prize.
This spring, twenty teams advanced to the second stage of the Solar Prize—called the Set! Contest—have been working to advance their technology solutions toward a viable proof of concept. At the demo day, teams will pitch their innovations to a panel of judges, and 5-10 finalists will be chosen to compete in the last stage of the competition. Finalists will have the chance to win up to $200,000 in cash prizes and up to $75,000 in vouchers that can be used for technical assistance at the national laboratories and other facilities in the American-Made Network.
The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million prize competition designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing through a series of contests that support entrepreneurs as they transform concepts into early-stage prototypes ready for industry testing.
Check out the semifinalist teams who will be competing at Set! Demo Day to learn more about their exciting innovations!
Demo Day Agenda
8:00-9:00: Breakfast—Arrival and check-in
9:00-9:03: Greentown CEO Welcome–Dr. Emily Reichert
9:03-9:05: Welcome to the American Made Solar Prize Set! Demo Day–Introduction of speakers and video–Dr. Charlie Gay (Solar Energy Technologies Office Director)
9:05-9:13: Role of the American-Made Network in the Solar Prize–Alex Fitzsimmons (Chief of Staff for the Office of Energy Efficiency at the U.S. Department of Energy)
9:13-9:21: Importance of Solar Prize to industry–Dr. Charlie Gay (Solar Energy Technologies Office Director)
9:21-9:30: Program overview–Debbie Brodt-Giles (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
9:30-10:30: Teams 1-7 present
10:30-10:45: Break
10:45-11:45: Teams 8-14 present
11:45-1:00: Lunch break
1:00-2:00: Teams 15-20 present
2:00-2:30: Judges visit teams
2:30-4:30: Social and networking (while judges convene for decision making)
4:30-5:00: Announcement of Set! finalists–Dr. Charlie Gay/Victor Kane/Debbie Brodt-Giles
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It’s Resilience, Stupid! Presenting New Approaches to Urban Resilience
Thursday, June 6
11:00am to 12:00pm
Webinar
Resilience is the capacity of buildings and communities to recover quickly from disasters and disruptions of normal daily life. It is often confused with robustness, a concept at the heart of engineering design.
In this webinar, we argue that robustness is not the sole driver of resilience and that the current engineering practice is insufficient to design for the resilience of buildings and communities subject to extreme wind events, earthquakes and so on. We present a suite of new approaches that explicitly target resilient building design from the assessment of wind loads in neighborhoods to the component design of buildings in their environment. These tools are illustrated through a number of case studies of recent hurricane disasters including Hurricane Irma (2017) and Hurricane Michael (2018).
The webinar will be presented by MIT Professor and CSHub Faculty Director Franz-Josef Ulm.
The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) webinar series offers information of general interest to members of the building, paving, and construction communities, as well as to educators, students, journalists, and law and policy-makers interested in the environmental and economic impacts of decision-making concerning infrastructure. Videos of past webinars are archived to the CSHub YouTube Channel.
Webinars are free and open to the public. Presentations are geared toward a lay audience.
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WEBINAR | Weaponizing science for the greater good
Thursday, June 6
12 noon Eastern
The scientific method has been successfully applied to advance human health and well-being. The process of experimentation, ethical oversight, and critical review of empirical data enables verifiable truths to be uncovered and knowledge to be advanced. Can the same scientific method also be applied to issues of social justice and human rights? Can we use science to improve the well-being of abused children, to fight racism and hatred, and to stop the spread of fear and ignorance? This webinar examines the practice of applying scientific standards of data collection, analysis, and presentation to further social justice and serve core human rights.
Presenters
Speaker: Jack Shonkoff, M.D., Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Speaker: Marco Perduca, Luca Coscioni Association
Speaker: Amanda Klasing, Human Rights Watch
Speaker: Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Ph.D., American University
Moderator: Sean Sanders, Ph.D., Science/AAAS
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Climate Generation: Book Launch with Bill McKibben
Thursday, June 6
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, Simboli Hall, Room 100, 9 Lake Street, Brighton
Join a mother discovering the reality of climate change and how she can protect her children and their world. Keynote Speaker: Bill McKibben
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our generation - we hear it all the time. It has almost become a refrain. But do we really believe it? What if we were to let those words settle a little, penetrate minds and hearts deeply, and accept their troubling, terrifying truth? What if we were to understand that climate change isn’t something far away out there in space and time, but something that affects us here and now?
In Climate Generation: Awakening to Our Children’s Future, Lorna Gold shares her personal journey in understanding what those two words ‘climate change’ mean for her as a mother seeking to protect her children and, by extension, the world of which we are all a part.
Climate change is a real threat, which risks destroying our children’s future unless we act fast. This book tells the story of how one mother was awakened to this reality and how it changed her life. From fearing she could do nothing, she found herself catapulted into a big adventure. She discovered people from all walks of life who care about their children’s futures and who are doing amazing things to make these voices heard.
SPEAKERS
Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”
Lorna Gold works for Trócaire, the Irish Catholic Development Agency. She is a specialist in International Development who has worked across academic and NGO contexts for almost two decades. She writes and speaks extensively on Pope Francis’ teaching in Laudato SÃ. She holds a PhD in Economic Geography from Glasgow University and currently lectures in Applied Social Studies in Maynooth University. She is vice-chair of the Global Catholic Climate Movement and a member of the Irish Government’s Advisory Group on the National Climate Dialogue.
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DATA – WILL IT CURE HEALTHCARE?
Thursday, June 6
5:30 to 6:30 Check-in, Networking and Refreshments - Atrium (TMEC 266)
6:30 to 8:15 Discussion and Q&A - Walter Amphitheater (TMEC 246)
Harvard Medical School, Tosteson Medical Education Center (TMEC), 260 Longwood Avenue, Boston
Cost: $30 - $50
The United States now spends an estimated 18% of its GDP on Healthcare, amounting to more than $10K annually for each individual. We have more than 5500 hospitals in the country and over 40 million hospitalization stays annually. Yet, life expectancy dropped in 2017 and several studies have placed the US behind many other developed countries on several metrics for outcomes.
Can data be the key to improving health care? If hospitals, doctors, insurance providers, patients and other stakeholders had consistent access to health data, could that lead to timelier diagnoses and improved outcomes? How can big data, analytics and technology make a difference?
This discussion will highlight lessons learned from real-world applications across health care, as well as insights into how the field will evolve in the future. Moderated by Dr. David Roberts of Harvard Medical School and Bill Ho, CEO of Biscom, this esteemed panel consists of:
Mariya Filipova, Anthem
Dr. John Halamka, Beth Israel Lahey Health
Dr. Iya Khalil, GNS Healthcare
Dr. Greg Licholai, PRA Health Services
In March 2014, David H. Roberts, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine was appointed by Dean Jeffrey Flier as the inaugural Harvard Medical School Dean for External Education. An HMS alumnus, Dr. Roberts completed his internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital and a pulmonary and critical care fellowship in the Harvard Combined Program. Building his career as a pulmonologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, much of Dr. Roberts' work has focused on the intersection of medicine and medical education, earning him a national reputation as a highly collaborative and innovative medical educator. At Beth Israel Deaconess he served as the associate director of the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, director of its Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, and director of its Academy of Medical Educators. He has directed both HMS preclinical courses and the Beth Israel Deaconess Principal Clinical Experience. David also is a member of the The Academy at HMS, and, until recently, served as the Academy's associate director. Over the years he has received numerous teaching awards, including the coveted HMS Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Bill Ho is the CEO of Biscom, a software company that helps organizations share information securely. Biscom focuses on developing and providing secure messaging solutions for healthcare, financial services, government, and other regulated industries that require the highest levels of reliability, security, and auditability. Biscom enables companies to streamline and scale their faxing, document delivery, and secure email capabilities for sharing sensitive information.
Previously, Bill was a software developer at Oracle and an early builder of large scale media web sites at CNET.com. In 1999, Bill founded vVault, a VC-backed company that pioneered cloud storage and secure collaboration, which was later acquired by Biscom. Bill received his BS Computer Science from Stanford, MS Computer Science from Harvard, and his MBA from MIT Sloan. Bill also serves on the President's Council for Lahey Hospital & Medical Center.
Mariya Filipova leads Anthem’s Innovation function and oversees a network of ecosystem hubs across the country. She also leads a portfolio of initiatives that accelerate Anthem’s transformation into an AI-first company taking full advantage of exponential technologies and new business models.
Mariya’s past experience as an entrepreneur and wall street analyst has shaped her perspective on transformation in closely regulated industries in Europe and the United States. She is a trusted advisor to both healthcare veterans and new entrants, from established industry leaders to start-ups in e-commerce, retail, and tech.
Mariya previously led Deloitte’s global Future of Work Program Office, a portfolio of investments that use exponential technologies (e.g. blockchain, artificial intelligence) to redefine the way we do and monetize work. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics, summa cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College. She remains active in her alumni community where she serves on the Board of Governors for the Harvard Business School Association of Boston. She is currently based in Boston, MA.
John Halamka, MD, MS, International Healthcare Innovation Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Executive Director, Health Technology Exploration Center, Beth Israel Lahey Health
In his role as Executive Director of the Health Technology Exploration Center of Beth Israel Lahey Health, John Halamka, MD, MS, and his team identify emerging technologies that make care more efficient, integrated and accessible.
In his previous role of Chief Information Officer for the Beth Israel Deaconess system, John led technology implementation and operations for the organization’s clinical, financial, administrative, research and educational areas. John is also an International Healthcare Innovation Professor at Harvard Medical School. He previously served as Chief Information Officer at Harvard Medical School, Chair of the National Health Information Technology Standards Panel for the Bush administration, and Co-chair of the National Health Information Technology Standards Committee for the Obama administration.
Dr. Iya Khalil is a technology entrepreneur and physicist with a vision of transforming medicine and healthcare into a discipline that is quantitative, predictive, and patient-centric via AI and big data. She co-founded two AI and machine learning companies, Gene Network Sciences Inc. and GNS Healthcare, and is the co-inventor of the proprietary AI and machine learning software platform that underpins both entities. Dr. Khalil’s machine learning and AI expertise spans 18 years with applications in drug discovery, drug development, clinical trial optimization, real world evidence and pharmaceutical commercial applications, and all the way to treatment algorithms that can be applied at the point of care. Dr. Khalil has published extensively in AI and machine learning for healthcare, including peer-reviewed journal articles and poster presentations at scientific conferences such as ASCO, AACR, ASH, ISPOR and EASL.
Dr. Khalil is internationally known for her work in AI. She was named to the PharmaVOICE 100 list of the most inspiring people in the life sciences industry for her abilities to build bridges across the life science and healthcare industries, bringing people together to harness the power of computational modeling to change the lives of patients. President Obama in 2014 recognized her as a leading entrepreneur in genomic medicine, was named to Inc’s magazine list of top female founders of 2018 as well as more recently in the Forbes 2019 top women-led startups crushing tech. In 2018 was appointed by Governor Baker to the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) Oversight Council.
Gregory P. Licholai, MD, MBA, Chief Medical and Information Officer, PRA Health Sciences
Greg teaches at Yale School of Management and is Co-Director of the Center for Digital Health. He is Chief Medical and Information Officer at PRA Health Sciences, a leading pharmaceutical service, healthcare data and contract research provider. Previously, he was President of the rare disease at Moderna Therapeutics; President and Chief Medical Officer at Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals and was a partner at McKinsey & Co. where he ran the healthcare data service line. He was also a senior executive at Proteostasis, Amicus Therapeutics and Medtronic Neurological as well as venture investor for Domain Associates. He was co-founder of Immunome Therapeutics. Greg has degrees from Harvard Business School, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia University and Boston College. He trained at the Brigham and Women's, Children's, and Massachusetts General Hospitals. He serves on multiple company and non-profit boards including advisor to the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public private partnership co-founded by Duke University and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He writes about innovation in healthcare for Forbes.
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LASER Boston: Collaborating Across Species
Thursday, June 6
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
swissnex Boston, 420 Broadway, Cambridge
What is it like to collaborate with a non-human partner? Can slime mold add aesthetic input to art? Can salamanders teach us the art of extreme limb regeneration? Do humans appreciate the same type of art as c elegans(roundworms)?
Join us for the inaugural event of Boston LASER- the local chapter of the international talk series promoting exchange between science and art across the globe. We’ll be taking on the above questions with experts from across disciplines: Multimedia artist Brian Knep, artist and cellular biologist Natalie Andrew, and biologist Jessica Whited.
Presented by swissnex Boston and SciArt Initiative.
Program
6:00 pm Community Networking
Speakers and audience members are welcome to join in a pre-talks networking session.
6:30 pm Talks
See descriptions below.
7:30 pm Networking Reception
Stick around to continue the discussion over drinks and snacks.
Talks
“Avatar”
Brian Knep is a multimedia artist whose works range from large-scale interactive installations to microscopic sculptures for nematodes. He was the first artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School, and has shown in multiple museums including the Cleveland Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the RISD Museum, among others. Brian holds a BA in Mathematics and Computer Science, an MA in Computer Science from Brown University.
“Creeping Dialogue – Art and Science with Slime Molds”
Natalie Andrew is a biologist and a ceramicist whose explorations converge around slime molds. Natalie is a microscopist at Massachusetts General Hospital and is a guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Natalie makes slime-decorated artwork at her studio in the Harvard Ceramics Program. Natalie holds a BA in Physics with Electronics, an MA in Cognitive Science, and a PhD. in Biology from the University of Birmingham, U.K.
“Salamanders: Nature's Instruction Manual for Limb Regeneration”
Jessica L. Whited, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Harvard University in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Principal Faculty Member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The Whited Lab is focused on understanding the mechanisms enabling extreme regeneration in axolotl salamanders using a variety of molecular and genetic techniques. Jessica holds a BS in Biological Sciences and a BA in Philosophy, earned her PhD in Biology at MIT, and performed postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School.
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Compost Compendium
Thursday, June 6
6:00–8:00pm
Hunnewell Building and Landscape, Arnold Arboretum
RSVP at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
Cost: $20 member, $30 nonmember
Conor Guidarelli, Horticulturist, Arnold Arboretum
Horticulturist Conor Guidarelli manages the Arnold Arboretum’s organic materials recycling area and has recently improved the production and quality of the resulting compost. Conor will discuss the components of compost and the nutrients that can be returned to a site when compost is applied. He will explain the mix of brown to green materials, moisture, and aeration. Class participants will start in the classroom and then travel to the Arboretum’s materials yard to see compost in various stages of development.
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Farming While Black
Thursday, June 6
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Urban Farming Institute, 487 Norfolk Street, Boston
Cost: Donation
Join us for a reading and discussion with Massachusetts native, Leah Penniman, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY, and author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.
In 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people—a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. Farming While Black is the first comprehensive “how to” guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture.
Penniman will share highlights from her book followed by a question-and-answer period and book signing. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Urban Farming Institute, whose mission is to develop and promote urban farming as a commercial sector that creates green collar jobs for residents. This event is co-sponsored by Boston Medical Center, CommonWealth Kitchen, Higher Ground Farm, Impact Hub Boston, The Food Project, and The Urban Farming Institute of Boston. Food from Fresh Food Generation is included in your donation.
“Farming While Black teaches us the fundamental acts of growing food and growing community.”—Karen Washington, food justice activist.
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Map This: Sustainable Fashion Opening Reception at Urbano
Thursday, June 6
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Urbano Project, 29 Germania Street, Boston
Come celebrate the opening of Nathalia JMag's Map This: Sustainable Fashion
Urbano Project welcomes Artist-in-Residence Nathalia JMag, a Colombian-American contemporary fashion designer who believes in sustainable and ethical approaches to apparel. Her work centers the intersection of design and eco-sustainability alongside an internal reimagining of the factory-labor driven fashion industry.
To learn more about her exhibition visit our website: http://urbanoproject.org
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IDEO Cambridge Presents: Change by Design | The Future of Health
Thursday, June 6
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
IDEO Cambridge, 80 Prospect Street, Cambridge
Designing the future of health requires systemic change in healthcare at every level—for individuals, families, communities, and society. It requires looking at health in more interconnected ways, activating spaces both within and outside of traditional healthcare settings. The future of health will be defined not only by helping people treat disease but cultivating an abundance of well-being. Creating that future demands audacious vision and unwavering confidence to take the risks that push healthcare into new edges.
Our panel and audience will discuss, how might design help usher in the next era in health while keeping people at the center? What alchemy results from bringing together designers and enlightened leaders in health? Expect a night of new ideas and lively discussion.
Please join us for a dynamic panel discussion and reflection with friends and colleagues from across the health ecosystem; Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served.
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Navigating Wellness in the Digital Age
Thursday, June 6
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Hall, 44 Gloucester Street, #4th Floor, Boston
Cost: $0 – $30
Join Boston Magazine Wellness Editor Tessa Yannone for a panel discussion on How to Navigate Wellness in the Digital Age. Featuring Registered Dietitian and Creator of The Wellful, Brenna O'Malley, Mental Health Therapist and Real Talk Travels’ Brie Shelly and Rachel Estapa of More to Love Yoga, and Melisa Valdez of Trillfit.
Dinner and drinks will be provided and you'll walk away with a swag bag filled with all our favorite wellness goodies. Bring a friend
The event is hosted in partnership with Boston Magazine’s Be Well Boston and Hall, a community space to socialize and explore interests outside of work. Learn more at hallboston.com or sign up to host your own experience.
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NonViolence DA Training
Thursday, June 6
6-10 PM
TBA
The next NVDA training session will be held on June 6th. For more information and to RSVP please see the event on our website at https://xrmass.org/action/may-nvda-training-sessions/
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Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
Thursday, June 6
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes The New Yorker staff writer GEORGE PACKER—author of the National Book Award–winning The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, among many others—for a discussion of his latest work of nonfiction, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century.
About Our Man
Richard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy.
From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. His story is thus the story of America during its era of supremacy: its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence.
In Our Man, drawn from Holbrooke's diaries and papers, we are given a nonfiction narrative that is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited.
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2019 Emergency Meet for Climate Justice
Thursday, June 6
7-9 pm
José Mateo Ballet Theater, 400 Harvard Street, Cambridge
In partnership with Jose Mateo Ballet Theater and Dance for World Community, the Sustainable Solutions Lab
Join the Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass Boston and the José Mateo Ballet Theater for an evening of dance and discussion about climate justice. Choreographers McKersin Previlus, Yosi Karahashi and Michiko Kurata have been working with climate scientists and climate activists to develop their pieces. The dance performances will be complimented by a panel of local climate justice experts and a community discussion.
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Friday, June 7
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Disruptive Climate, Disruptive Technologies
Friday, June 7
7:15 am - 11:45 am
UMass Club, 32nd Floor, 1 Beacon Street, Boston
Cost: $15 - $45
Climate change is disruptive. Lives and livelihoods from the world’s oceans to its deserts are already impacted and the disruption will continue into the foreseeable future. As we struggle with how to mitigate emissions and stem the tide of change, the business of climate change adaptation and resilience continues to grow in importance. Within this adaptation & resilience market, technology and innovation are driving forward improvements in how we observe, model, analyze, and visualize the changes in our climate, resulting in decision-makers being able to adjust and develop more effective policies and programs.
Join this Climate Adaptation Forum for a discussion about how disruptive technologies are changing the way we approach adapting to our uncertain future.
Forum Co-Chairs
Mark Costa, Water Resources Engineer.VHB
Kelly Knee, Technical Director – Ocean Science, RPS Group
Speaker
Kate Stebbins, Vice President of Economic Development, University of Massachusetts
Technology Demonstrations, Jupiter Intelligence
Alan Blumberg, Co-Founder
Leah Cohen, Customer Engagement Leader
Today’s decision-makers need data that reflects ongoing change and provides accurate predictions. With the right information, they can make more informed decisions for site selection and design, critical infrastructure planning, equipment ratings, capital investment and portfolio planning, insurance, alternative investment decisions, zoning and building code development, and many other areas. The right decisions improve safety and reduce risks to critical infrastructure and business operations.
In 2017 Jupiter was founded by a group of thought-leaders who believed that every relevant factor in climate impact could be incorporated into an integrated, dynamic modeling framework, enhanced with AI, and that this technology could be used to deliver a risk-focused solution with accurate, actionable information, designed to efficiently scale in the cloud. Now Jupiter has made that belief a reality with global models that predict asset-level impact from flood, fire, heat, drought, cold, wind, and hail events at less-than-one-meter resolution.
SIM-CI
Roger ter Heide, CPO
The devastating effects of natural disasters can be seen almost every day. Earthquakes, major storms and flooding challenge the resilience of our critical infrastructures, leaving communities and entire societies exposed and vulnerable. Launched in 2017, SIM-CI (Simulating Critical Infrastructures) helps to make urbanised areas more able-bodied against all forms of manmade and natural crises, including flooding, power failures and cyberattacks.
In close cooperation with leading universities and scientific institutions SIM-CI has developed a ground-breaking simulation platform. The platform allows you to introduce new buildings and architecture to the landscape and assess their impact in relation to the envisioned environment and traffic flows. Once the simulation is set up, it is easy to include additional factors such as fine dust levels, carbon emissions and solar electricity production.
SIM-CI’s simulation platform offers a digital duplicate of any geographical region, including terrain specifications and existing infrastructure. A (number of) scenario(s) is then prepared, in which the digital duplicate is exposed to an extreme event. The model visualizes both the possible extent of damage and the effects of (combinations of) mitigating measures.
More to come!
Registration Information
Registration and Continental Breakfast: 7:15 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
Forum: 8:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
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2019 CMD Symposium on Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications
Friday, June 7
9:30 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
BU, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Rafik B. Hariri Building., Room 105, Boston
This year’s symposium will be held from 9:30 am – 5 pm and includes a poster session
See the BU-CMD website for more details and full agenda
This year the BU-CMD welcomes the following speakers:
Kim Orth, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
“Black Spot, Black Death, Black Pearl: The Tales of Bacterial Effectors”
Dr. Jin-Quan Yu, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
“Enantioselective and Remote C–H Activation Reactions”
Kevan Shokat, University of California, San Francisco
“Chemical Tricks for Drugging the Undruggable”
David R. Liu, Harvard University/ The Broad Institute
“Base Editing: Chemistry on a Target Nucleotide in the Genome of Living Cells”
Registration & Attendance are free
Tickets are not required to attend
An email confirmation will be sent from orders@eventbrite.com
If you have problems registering via this website or have any questions, please contact BU-CMD at the following email address:
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A Climate Risk Assessment of Sovereign Bonds’ Portfolio
Friday, June 7
12:30 – 2:00 pm
BU, Global Development Policy Center, 53 Bay State Road, Boston
RSVP to gdp@bu.edu
The Global Development Policy Center and the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future invite you to attend an upcoming seminar, “A Climate Risk Assessment of Sovereign Bonds’ Portfolio,” featuring Irene Monasterolo, Assistant Professor of Climate Economics and Finance at Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Prof. Monasterolo, a Pardee Center post-doctoral associate from 2015-2017, is a development economist with experience in policy monitoring and evaluation; institutional capacity building; governance of evidence based sustainability policies; complex system thinking for modelling the resource-climate nexus; green fiscal and monetary policies for financing the green economy; adaptation tools for building agricultural resilience to climate change, focusing on food risk and climate adaptation.
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Greentown Labs DEMO Day 2019
Friday, June 7
1:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
Cost: $30 – $50
Please join us on Friday, June 7 for the unique opportunity to explore our Global Center for Cleantech Innovation, meet our growing startup community, and hear from impressive keynote speakers including U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey and Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone!
The celebration will begin with Greentown Labs' annual DEMO Day which is a showcase of cutting-edge technology and innovation from across the cleantech and energy sectors. DEMO Day brings together cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, strategic partners, and VIPs from around the world to view and discuss solutions to our global environmental challenges.
Don't miss this opportunity to engage with startups and founders working on innovative solutions in the cleantech and energy sectors!
We hope you'll join us and help make this DEMO Day one for the books!
Event Program:
1:00-4:00 — DEMO Day Lab Showcase
4:00-4:30 —Networking Begins
4:30-5:15 — Speaking Program
Speaking Program featuring:
U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone
Emily Reichert, PhD, CEO of Greentown Labs
Tom Kinisky, SVP and Chief Innovation Officer, Saint-Gobain & Chairman, Saint-Gobain North America
15 “Popcorn Pitches” from 15 Greentown Labs member companies
More speakers will be announced closer to the event date—stay tuned!
5:30-8:00 — Open Lab Showcase, Celebratory Reception featuring the Roof Deck!
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War and Peace: FDR's Final Odyssey: D-Day to Yalta, 1943–1945 (FDR at War #3)
Friday, June 7
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
To mark the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, join us to hear the stirring climax to Nigel Hamilton’s three-part saga of FDR at war—proof that he was WWII’s key strategist, even on his deathbed.
“A first-class, lens-changing work.” —James N. Mattis, former United States Secretary of Defense
Nigel Hamilton's celebrated trilogy culminates with a story of triumph and tragedy. Just as FDR was proven right by the D-day landings he had championed, so was he found to be mortally ill in the spring of 1944. He was the architect of a victorious peace that he would not live to witness.
Using hitherto unpublished documents and interviews, Hamilton rewrites the famous account of World War II strategy given by Winston Churchill in his memoirs. Seventy-five years after the D-day landings we finally get to see, close-up and in dramatic detail, who was responsible for rescuing, and insisting upon, the great American-led invasion of France in June 1944, and why the invasion was led by Eisenhower. As FDR's D-day triumph turns to personal tragedy, we watch with heartbreaking compassion the course of the disease, and how, in the months left him as US commander in chief, the dying president attempted at Hawaii, Quebec, and Yalta to prepare the United Nations for an American-backed postwar world order. Now we know: even on his deathbed, FDR was the war's great visionary.
Nigel Hamilton is a best-selling and award-winning biographer of President John F. Kennedy, General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, and President Bill Clinton, among other subjects. His most recent book, The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942, was long-listed for the National Book Award. He is a senior fellow at the McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts, Boston and splits his time between Boston, Massachusetts and New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Saturday, June 8
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Applied Permaculture 8: Learning to use a scythe and medicinal herbalism
Saturday, June 8
9am - 4:30pm
Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street, Mattapan
Cost: $40.00 – $80.00
Morning – How to use a scythe: an ancient skill revived for resilience. Scything used to be a common practice to mow grass and make hay. It is meditative, quiet, and – once you get the hang of it – quite effective. In this workshop you will learn how to safely handle a scythe and the proper swing technique to efficiently cut grass and meadows. Our instructor is a farmer who practiced scything on his farm and has given many workshops on urban farming.
Afternoon – Herbs and natural remedies in your landscape for health. Herbs are an essential part of most polycultures and food forests. In this workshop, you will learn about the medicinal uses of many common plants, like nettle, peppermint, comfrey, chamomile, bee balm, and many more! You will also learn how these important plants support your food forest’s health while helping you maintain your own physical health.
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Boston Sci-Ed Innovators STEM Showcase and Expo
Saturday, June 8
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM EDT
Yawkey Athletics Center, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-sci-ed-innovators-stem-showcase-and-expo-tickets-58496342134
The Sci-Ed Expo is an event exhibiting exciting STEM projects from students and teachers grades K-12 representing urban schools from the Boston area. In addition to student and teacher projects, the event will feature exhibitions from leading STEM organizations in the Boston area and a keynote speaker. This year's keynote speak is Alazar Ayele from Biogen Labs in Camrbidge, MA. Read more about Alazar below!
Interested in having a FREE exhibit table at our STEM Expo? Contact kdarling@sciedinnovators.org
What is Sci-Ed?
The Sci-Ed Innovators Fellowship Program is a year long experience, designed to engage and support New York City and Boston science and math teachers. Through regular monthly workshops, dialogue with peers and mentors, and a critical examination of their practice, fellows learn to transform their students’ experience by applying and further developing the Democratic Science Teaching Framework, initially conceived by Professor Sreyashi Jhumki Basu. The Fellowship experience challenges participants to examine their teaching practices through the lens of the framework. For any given learning experience, Sci-Ed Innovators ask the following questions:
Where in this learning experience is there room for student choice?
Where in this learning experience can I enhance my students' voice and learn more about their ideas?
How am I helping my students to build on their pre-existing funds of knowledge?
In what ways can I personalize this learning experience for my students?
How and when are my students investigating science in an authentic way, becoming subject matter experts who leverage their knowledge for small- and large-scale change?
Fellows who are selected for the program participate in a year-long community of practice with a mixture of first and second year participants. Twice over the course of the year, Fellows publish a 3-5 minute digital story demonstrating a new democratic science teaching practice. Fellows and a group of their students participate in the annual Sci-Ed Innovators Expo and Symposium.
2018-2019 Keynote Speaker: Alazar Ayele
Alazar Ayele is an instructor at the Biogen Community Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also attends Harvard University as a candidate for a Master of Science in Biology. In his undergraduate days at Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts, he studied Applied Biology, while working at the Libermann Laboratory at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he studied renal cell carcinoma and the role of protein sPDF in prostate cancer. He was the recipient of the Ujima Global Leadership Award from Northeastern University in 2009.
Alazar currently sits on the advising committee for Dana-Farber’s Harvard Cancer Center’s Continuing Umbrella Research Experience, an organization that introduces Massachusetts high school and college students from underrepresented populations to the world of cancer research. He also sits on the committee for the Harvard Medical School’s Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) directed by Dr. Joan Reed of Harvard Medical School. The BSCP provides students of every race, ethnic background, gender and financial status with encouragement, support and guidance needed for the successful pursuit of biomedical science and other science-related careers. Alazar also sits on the advising committee for the City of Cambridge STEAM Initiative where teachers and administration are encouraged to think about the future of Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. In the future, Alazar hopes to leverage his science knowledge and his teaching background to foster great relationships within the community, as an asset in the workforce development of his city.
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Dance for World Community Festival Day
Saturday, June 8
12:00-7:00pm
Massachusetts Avenue (between Putnam Avenue & Bow Street) Harvard Square, Cambridge
Free performances on five stages
Free classes
Exhibits
Food
Fun!
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Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest - New England's Own Locally Brewed
Saturday, June 8
2:30-5:30 pm, 6:30-9:30 pm
University Park, 38 Sidney Street, Cambridge
Advance sales $45 ; $80 for a pair, and $65 VIP. Door sales are $50 each for general admission
The 8th Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest kicks off at University Park, Cambridge, MA for two sessions. Presented by Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts (SBN) Hyper-Local Craft Brewfest is the only festival in the New England region that focuses on local brews with locally sourced ingredients from local farms and food makers. The festival brings together 25 breweries, cideries, and artisan beverage crafters offering tasting samples along with food from skillful local chefs and bakers from all over New England to celebrate with local craft brew fans. The festival will also feature cask brews made just for the event that all include local ingredients.
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Playing For The Planet: World Music Against Climate Change
Saturday, June 8
7:00 PM – 10:30 PM EDT
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street, Boston
Cost: $15 – $20
Get ready for one of the year's most exciting musical events!
On Saturday, June 8, the nineteenth “Playing For The Planet” benefit concert showcases master musicians from three different musical traditions, in a benefit for the environmental advocacy group 350MA.org.
Featured performers include virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Thayer, the Swedish/Celtic duo stylings of Sunniva Brynnel and Yaniv Yacoby, and the brilliant young Hindustani vocalist Samarth Nagarkar.
For more information, please call 781-330-8032, or email theclimatemessage@gmail.com
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Sunday, June 9
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Bikes Not Bombs Bike-a-thon
Sunday, June 9
Cost: $30
Bikes Not Bombs is in Jamaica Plain, and for 35 years we have used the bicycle as a tool for social change, through our innovative youth development programs and international partnerships. Our largest community event and fundraiser each year is our Bike-A-Thon, with 700 riders and volunteers raising $200,000 to support our local and international programs.
We need over 600 riders and 100 volunteers on Sunday, June 9th. Riders select from 10, 30, 50 and 100 mile routes through greater Boston's scenic roads. Volunteer tasks include setting up and breaking down the event, parking bikes, distributing T-shirts and water bottles, greeting riders, and prepping and serving food. Riders and volunteers will receive a free T-shirt, a delicious lunch and a lot of gratitude. It is a fantastic, fun community event.
Anyone interested in riding or volunteering should contact Angela Phinney at angela@bikesnotbombs.org.
For more information about Bikes Not Bombs or to register for the
Bike-A-Thon, visit http://www.bikesnotbombs.org
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Monday, June 10
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A Workshop on Atmospheric Dynamics and Transport
Monday, June 10
8:45am to 4:30pm
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
In Honor of Prof. Emeritus R. Alan Plumb
Featuring:
Kristie Boering
Cegeon Chan
Kerry Emanuel
Edwin Gerber
Peter Haynes
Isaac Held
Tieh-Yong Koh
Marianna Linz
John Marshall
Noboru Nakamura
Jessica Neu
Nikki Prive
Bill Randel
Ted Shepherd
Aditi Sheshadri
Darryn Waugh
Angela Zalucha
Monday, June 10, 2019
Workshop: 8:45am—4:30pm
Building 66, Room 110
Reception & Dinner: 6—9pm
Catalyst Restaurant, Tech Square, Cambridge
RSVP by June 5, 2019 to Alma Pellecer: pellecer@mit.edu. Please specify workshop and/or complimentary dinner attendance.
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Innovative Financing Strategies for Affordable Housing Forum
Monday, June 10
1 PM - 3 PM
Fort Point Room, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Join LISC Boston and Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP)
Learn how we can achieve deeper energy savings and integrate clean energy technologies into multifamily affordable housing.
Hear from lenders, subsidy providers, and owners on the potential to incorporate efficiency improvements into the financing process.
Speakers will include Community Preservation Corporation, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, LISC, MHP, and POAH.
Sponsored by LISC Boston and MHP.
Cosponsored by CEDAC, CHAPA, Community Preservation Corporation, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, MassDevelopment, MassHousing, Mel King Institute, NeighborWorks, Passive House MA, The Property and Casualty Initiative, ULI, and USGBC MA.
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Boston New Technology HealthTech Startup Showcase #BNT102 (21+)
Monday, June 10
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
Cost: $15.00 /per person
See innovative and exciting local HealthTech product demos, presented by startup founders
Network with the Boston-area startup/tech community
Get your free headshot photo (non-intrusively watermarked) from The Boston Headshot!
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.
21+. Register at least 2 days prior to save 50%. Only $15!
To save on tickets and enjoy exclusive benefits, purchase a BNT VIP Membership. Learn more: http://bit.ly/BnTvip
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Fort Hill Solar Party
Monday, June 10
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Fort Hill Bar & Grill, 2805 Washington Street, Boston
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Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall
Monday, June 10
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Clinical Professor of Liberal Studies at NYU and cultural historian JAMES POLCHIN to discuss his debut book, Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall. He will be joined in conversation by ROBERT W. FIESELER, acclaimed author of Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.
About Indecent Advances
In his skillful hybrid of true crime and cultural history, James Polchin provides an important look at how popular culture, the media, and the psychological profession forcefully portrayed gay men as the perpetrators of the same violence they suffered. He traces how the press depicted the murder of men by other men from the end of World War I to the Stonewall era, when gay men came to be seen as a class both historically victimized and increasingly visible.
Indecent Advances tells the story of how homosexuals were criminalized in the popular imagination—from the sex panics of the 1930s, to Kinsey study of male homosexuality of the 1940s, and the Cold War panic of Communists and homosexuals in government. Polchin illustrates the vital role crime stories played in circulating ideas of normalcy and deviancy, and how those stories were used as tools to discriminate and harm the gay men who were observers and victims of crime. More importantly, Polchin shows how this discrimination was ultimately transformed by activists to help shape the burgeoning gay rights movement in the years leading up to Stonewall Riots of 1968.
A cast of noted public figures—Leopold & Loeb, J Edgar Hoover, Alfred Kinsey, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Patricia Highsmith, James Baldwin, and Gore Vidal—is threaded through this complex subject. Politicians, law enforcement officials, and psychologists weigh in to explain the dangerous relationship between homosexuality and violence. And one needs to look no further than the recent TV series about Andrew Cunanan's murder spree leading up to his shooting of Gianni Versace to ascertain, perhaps, how little things have changed in the policing and reporting of these kinds of crimes against gay men. Polchin's vital history is as important today as it was then.
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Tuesday June 11
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MIT IT Partners 2019 Conference
Tuesday, June 11
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
MIT Stata Center (Bldg 32), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The IT Partners full day conference will feature presentations and collaborative sessions on a variety of important topics. The sessions will take place in the Kirsch Auditorium and in classrooms located in and around the Stata Center (Building 32).
We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker will be Mark Silis, the Vice President of IS&T (Information Systems & Technology) at MIT.
Breakfast will be available at 8:30am. The conference will begin at 9am. Lunch and an afternoon snack will also be provided.
Further details will be posted to the 2019 IT Partners Conference wiki page.
As always, if you have specific suggestions with regards to topics you would like to see at future IT Partners events, please email the IT Partners Planning Team at itpartners-plan@mit.edu.
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Passive House: A Technical Look
Tuesday, June 11
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM (EDT)
Edison Conference Room, 16th Floor, 50 Milk Street, Boston
Cost: $31.53
Passive House is a complimentary and comprehensive standard that can help LEED projects achieve valuable Energy and Atmosphere (EA) points, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) points, and meet other LEED project requirements. In this 2-Hour session, Luke McKneally AIA, LEED AP, CPHC will go into greater depth regarding the challenges and successful strategies employed to achieve the rigorous Passive House design criteria on significant projects in the Northeast.
Learning Objectives
Learn more about what has been called the most energy efficient building standard in the world, Passive House.
Understand how Passive House provides an ideal path to achieving Net Zero Energy buildings.
Understand how the building enclosure design is critical to meeting the Passive House certification criteria.
Learn how mechanical systems design can work with envelope design to reduce energy loads
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The Creation of Local Agrarian Commons
Tuesday, June 11
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Webinar
In the next two decades alone, it's estimated that across the US, over 400 million acres of farmland will change ownership. The Agrarian Trust is a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to ensure that tomorrow's farmers have access to this land, and that the opportunities to farm remain economically viable.
Ian McSweeney, Director of the Agrarian Trust, will talk about their exciting new project to create a local Agrarian Commons. The Agrarian Commons will purchase farmland and enter into fair long-term leases with new farmers, while protecting the land with easements and restrictions supporting ecologically restorative agricultural practices. A farmer himself, Ian understands the challenges of land ownership and has also previously served as the Executive Director of the Russell Foundation.
This webinar will be recorded for future viewing. If you cannot attend the webinar but are still interested, please register so that we can notify you when the recording is ready!
Live Webinar Link (only active 6/11/19): https://unh.zoom.us/j/948099386
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Pollinator (& Insect) Survey at Fresh Pond
Tuesday, June 11
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Entrance to Fresh Pond Reservation across Wheeler, Wheeler Street, Cambridge
Join this incredible opportunity to connect with Nature, and to help the conservation of our urban wildlife habitats. We observe and collect information about pollinators (and more generally arthropods). We then feed that info to different global databases that are tracking species richness, population abundance, and phenophases.
Collecting such data is an important scientific effort that helps better understand the collapse of insect populations, that is being been observed throughout the world. That kind of data is critical to understand the implications on avian populations, other fauna at large, and on our own species (e.g., food security). A better understanding will lead to better societal actions and policies.
We will also develop together a virtual guide to the insects and wildlife of Fresh Pond.
Age: Adults (16+) & Seniors.
Rendezvous: At the entrance to the Lusitania woods, at the intersection of the Regional bike path connection and the entrance to the reservation across Wheeler street (see Map).
Details & Registration: This is an RSVP event. We need your registration so that we can communicate with you about what to wear and what to bring, as well as to be able to inform you if there is any change plan due to weather and other reasons. Thanks and register today!
For any question, you can contact Claire atcitizenscience@earthwiseaware.org
About our EwA at Fresh Pond Program »https://www.earthwiseaware.org/ewa-at-fresh-pond/
Free with a value: This event is free, still... donations to EwA are always welcomed! » Donate at https://www.earthwiseaware.org/donate
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Underland: A Deep Time Journey
Tuesday, June 11
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes celebrated writer ROBERT MACFARLANE—author of Landmarks and The Old Ways—for a discussion of his latest book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey. He will be joined in conversation by Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic and author SEBASTIAN SMEE. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.
About Underland
Robert Macfarlane takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. Traveling through "deep time"—the dizzying expanses of geologic time that stretch away from the present—he moves from the birth of the universe to a post-human future, from the prehistoric art of Norwegian sea caves to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk "hiding place" where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come.
Woven through Macfarlane's own travels are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers, all of whom have been drawn for different reasons to seek what Cormac McCarthy calls "the awful darkness within the world." Global in its geography and written with great lyricism and power, Underland speaks powerfully to our present moment. Taking a deep-time view of our planet, Macfarlane here asks a vital and unsettling question: "Are we being good ancestors to the future Earth?" Underland marks a new turn in Macfarlane's long-term mapping of the relations of landscape and the human heart.
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Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life
Tuesday June 11
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
Jay Wexler in conversation with Lucien Greaves
In Our Non-Christian Nation, Jay Wexler travels the country to engage the non-Christians who have called on us to maintain our ideals of inclusivity and diversity. As Wexler reminds us, anyone who cares about pluralism, equality, and fairness should support a public square filled with a variety of religious and nonreligious voices. The stakes are nothing short of long-term social peace.
A Professor at Boston University School of Law, Jay Wexler is also a humorist, short story writer, and novelist. A one-time clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former lawyer at the US Department of Justice, he has written for National Geographic, The Boston Globe, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Salon, and many other outlets. His books include When God Isn’t Green (2016) and Holy Hullabaloos.
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100 Side Hustles: Chris Guillebeau & Friends in Boston
Tuesday, June 11
7 PM – 8:30 PM
The Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Join me for an interactive gathering with other awesome people! This is a FREE event, but please make sure to RSVP by signing up on the site. And be sure to invite your friends! There might even be cupcakes.
**HOW IT WORKS**
It’s not just a book tour, it’s an interactive roadshow. You’ll hear stories and go away with action steps.
Ever since I started Side Hustle School, a lot of people have told me that their biggest challenge is finding the right idea. My new book, 100 SIDE HUSTLES, is all about highlighting all kinds of unexpected and unconventional ways that people can make money.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, June 12
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Pitch Night 2019: The Future of HealthTech
Wednesday, June 12
5:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge
What is the future of HealthTech? Boston is the birthplace of some of the sector’s most impactful ideas, but how do the local early stage startups stack up against their counterparts across the globe?
Join us at OBERON for Pitch Night 2019, where 10 of Switzerland’s most promising young HealthTech startups will pitch their ideas alongside their counterparts from North America, including some of the Boston area’s favorite early Life Sciences startups.
This isn’t your standard pitch event.
20 startups. 1 minute to pitch. 2 winners - a jury selection and an audience favorite. Join us for a drink, a live jazz band and fast-paced competition. This is your chance to mingle with the local and international HealthTech ecosystem, get a glimpse of the latest HealthTech innovations and meet the swissnex Boston team.
Event presented by swissnex Boston and VentureLab with support from Hansjörg Wyss.
Program support provided by the following partners:
Agenda
5:30 pm Arrival and networking
6:00 pm Program begins
6:20 pm Round 1: 20 one-minute pitches
7:15 pm Round 2: Round 1 winners answer the jury’s secret question
7:35 pm Public prize and jury prize awarded
8:00 pm Networking reception
Meet the startups
From Switzerland:
4D Lifetec AG | Arne-Christian Faisst
Unreliable tumor detection leads to unspecific therapy. 4D Lifetec is developing a fast, cost-effective and more precise assay to help identify lung and prostate cancers earlier. The company's liquid biopsy assay device is currently undergoing clinical testing.
Juvabis AG | Sven Hobbie | ETH Zurich
Drug-resistant bacteria are a threat to modern medicine. Juvabis, a joint startup of the ETH and University of Zurich, is preparing its new, small-molecule antibiotic for clinical trials in humans this year.
Medyria AG | Mauro Sette
Aneurysm repairs prevent bloated blood vessels from bursting dangerously. These vital interventions have harmful side-effects. Medyria's sensor uses blood flow velocity to measure a catheter location, helping reduce the risk of spinal injuries during surgery.
Pattern BioSciences AG | Yaakov Benenson | ETH Zurich
Developing sophisticated drugs to increase the chance of effective cancer treatment by targeting combinations of molecules, instead of single molecules. The company’s lead candidate to treat liver cancer is in preclinical development.
Positrigo AG | Jannis Fischer | ETH Zurich
Alzheimer's affects 50 million people worldwide. PET scanners can reveal proteins linked to the disease 20 years before the cognitive effects are noticeable. Positrigo's scanner will reduce the cost tenfold, making precautionary scanning viable.
Resistell AG | Danuta Cichocka | EPF Lausanne
Developed a diagnostic device to identify the best antibiotic to treat a particular infection between 10- and 100-times faster. This reduces the cost of hospital infections and slows antibiotic resistance, by helping treat infection with the correct antibiotic first time.
Scailyte AG | Peter Nestorov | University of Basel
Single-cell analysis is tipped to become a key tool in biomedical research. Currently the industry can’t extract all the data from highly complex single-cells. Scailyte is developing AI-based data analytics to boost research, drug discovery and precision diagnostics.
Synendos Therapeutics | Andrea Chicca | University of Bern
Developing drugs to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other neuropsychiatric disorders by modulating a new target. Restores natural brain functioning by inhibiting endocannabinoid transport across cell membranes. An effective, breakthrough therapy.
TOLREMO Therapeutics AG | Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual | ETH Zurich
Cancer drugs often lose their effectiveness over time, which makes tumors that require continuing treatment difficult to manage. TOLREMO’s new molecules eradicate drug resistant cancer cells at the start of a therapy, and can be combined with existing drugs.
Volumina Medical SA | Amélie Béduer | EPF Lausanne
Developed an injectable scaffolding that helps the body to rebuild after surgery. Enables the natural reconstruction of soft tissues, as well as glandular, connective and supporting tissues. First product will serve women’s reconstructive therapy after a mastectomy.
From North America:
Startups to be announced soon!
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George Greenstein: Quantum Strangeness
Wednesday, June 12
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Please join us in welcoming astrophysicist George Greenstein to MIT Press Bookstore, to discuss his upcoming book, Quantum Strangeness: Wrestling with Bell’s Theorem and the Ultimate Nature of Reality.
Quantum mechanics is one of the glories of our age. It has immeasurably altered our conception of the natural world. Its philosophical implications are earthshaking. But quantum mechanics steadfastly refuses to speak of many things; it deals in probabilities rather than giving explicit descriptions. It never explains. Astrophysicist George Greenstein has been both fascinated and confused by quantum mechanics for his entire career. In this book, he describes, engagingly and accessibly, his efforts to understand the enigma that is quantum mechanics.
George Greenstein is Sidney Dillon Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Amherst College. He is the author of Frozen Star: Of Pulsars, Black Holes, and the Nature of Stars, The Symbiotic Universe: Life and Mind in the Cosmos, The Quantum Challenge: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (with Arthur Zajonc), and other books.
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Startup Spotlight
Wednesday, June 12
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
Cost: $15 - $75
At the Startup Spotlight, you network your way through a curated group of startup demos with other like-minded tech-curious folks.
To be clear, this is not just another demo day/networking event! We want our audience to be involved by voting for their favorite startups in these categories:
Most likely to succeed with both a purpose and a profit: This award will go to the startup that has identified the impact they want to have on the world – leading to profits and sustainable success.
Most likely to be a disruptor: This award will go to the startup that has the potential to significantly alter the way businesses or entire industries operate.
Most likely to win over a ‘crowd’: This award will go to the startup that has the most potential to raise big $ from their customers/the crowd.
Most likely to actually make the hockey stick chart a reality: This award will go to the startup that has the biggest potential to scale
In addition to the audience awards, we’ve invited guest Angel and VC judges to select their winner:
Nick Henderson, Keiretsu Forum
Chris Sklarin or Cainon Coates, Castor Ventures
Matt Thoms, Bolt
Anmol Wassan, Boston Harbor Angels
Startups who are selected to exhibit will have a table at District Hall to demo their product to over 300 attendees from the greater Boston innovation ecosystem.
For early-stage startups, this means you might meet prospective:
Mentors + Advisors
Strategic Partners
Investors
Team Members
Press Contacts
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Fake News Versus Fact: Living in a Post-Truth World
Wednesday June 12
7 pm
Cambridge Forum, First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cambridge Forum welcomes LEE MCINTYRE, Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, for a discussion of his book, Post-Truth, and the culture of misinformation and "fake news.”
About Post-Truth
Are we living in a post-truth world, where "alternative facts" replace actual facts and feelings have more weight than evidence? How did we get here? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Lee McIntyre traces the development of the post-truth phenomenon from science denial through the rise of "fake news," from our psychological blind spots to the public's retreat into "information silos."
What, exactly, is post-truth? Is it wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced lying? McIntyre analyzes recent examples—claims about inauguration crowd size, crime statistics, and the popular vote—and finds that post-truth is an assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone to believe something regardless of the evidence.
Yet post-truth didn't begin with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific facts about smoking, evolution, vaccines, and climate change offers a road map for more widespread fact denial. Add to this the wired-in cognitive biases that make us feel that our conclusions are based on good reasoning even when they are not, the decline of traditional media and the rise of social media, and the emergence of fake news as a political tool, and we have the ideal conditions for post-truth.
McIntyre also argues provocatively that the right wing borrowed from postmodernism— specifically, the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth—in its attacks on science and facts. McIntyre argues that we can fight post-truth, and that the first step in fighting post-truth is to understand it.
"This is a gem of a short treatise. Lee McIntyre's Post-Truth is a perfect counter to a problem that has erupted in our national consciousness―alternative facts. McIntyre's enumerated suggestions on how we must all be our own fact checkers in this post-truth age should be taped to the computer keyboard of every journalist, politician, and reader in America, before the next election." ―Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine
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Thursday, June 13
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The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
Thursday, June 13
12pm EDT
Webinar
with Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH
Hope Collaborative is excited to announce our co-sponsorship of a free webinar with Dr. Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, hosted on the LeaderJam platform.
In his new book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, Nicholas Christakis introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide. Kevin Sheehan, the executive director of Hope Collaborative, will interview Nicholas Christakis about his work and it's relationship to the modern world, focusing on leadership and developing leaders. If society, in fact or genes, trend towards goodness, what are the implications for education, leadership development, and our collective vision of building great futures.
In the interview, we will explore:
The major ideas in Nicholas Christakis' new book that provide powerful insight into how the education and development of leaders globally can be informed by Christakis' fascinating discoveries.
The implications of "Blueprint" for a modern world that yearns for purpose and natural paths to impact and essential goodness.
How leaders can leverage this breakthrough information in 2019 to develop and work better together--and with youth-- with a shared set of values that transcend culture, geography, philosophy, and politics.
Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is a sociologist and physician who conducts research in the areas of social networks and bio-social science. He directs the Human Nature Lab. His current research is mainly focused on two topics: (1) the social, mathematical, and biological rules governing how social networks form (“connection”), and (2) the social and biological implications of how they operate to influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (“contagion”).
His lab uses both observational and experimental methods to study these phenomena, exploiting techniques from sociology, computer science, bio-social science, demography, statistics, behavior genetics, evolutionary biology, epidemiology, and other fields. To the extent that diverse phenomena can spread within networks in intelligible ways, there are important policy implications since such spread can be exploited to improve the health or other desirable properties of groups (such as cooperation or innovation). Hence, current work in the lab involves conducting field experiments: some work involves the use of large-scale, online network experiments; other work involves large-scale randomized controlled trials in the developing world where networks are painstakingly mapped. Finally, some work in the lab examines the biological determinants and consequences of social interactions and related phenomena, with a particular emphasis on the genetic origins and evolutionary implications of social networks.
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Bos/Tech Jam
Thursday, June 13
4:00-9:00PM
City Hall Plaza, Boston
Cost: $20 - $500
Massachusetts has the world’s greatest concentration of entrepreneurs, emerging and leading tech companies, top-tier academic institutions and students, world-class venture capitalists, incubators, and an eco-system of supporting service providers. There is no better place on earth to launch and scale innovative ideas that tackle the toughest challenges. We’re about real and meaningful innovations that change the world. Boston TechJam is a time when we all come together -from every corner of our innovation economy- to celebrate and accelerate our leading position. It’s a collaboration between local tech companies, leading industry groups, the City of Boston, and you.
Celebrating our 7th year on June 13th, 2019 we are excited to see thousands of members of the community descend on City Hall Plaza once again!
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Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility
Thursday, June 13
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes pioneering internet thought leader DAVID WEINBERGER for a discussion of his latest book, Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We're Thriving in a New World of Possibility.
About Everyday Chaos
Artificial intelligence, big data, modern science, and the internet are all revealing a fundamental truth: The world is vastly more complex and unpredictable than we've allowed ourselves to see.
Now that technology is enabling us to take advantage of all the chaos it's revealing, our understanding of how things happen is changing—and with it, our deepest strategies for predicting, preparing for, and managing our world. This affects everything, from how we approach our everyday lives to how we make moral decisions and how we run our businesses.
Through stories from history, business, and technology, philosopher and technologist David Weinberger finds the unifying truths lying below the surface of the tools we take for granted—and a future in which our best strategy often requires holding back from anticipating and instead creating as many possibilities as we can. The book’s imperative for business and beyond is simple: Make. More. Future.
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How to Fall in Love with a Coral
Thursday, June 13
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Simons IMAX Theatre New England Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, Boston
RSVP at xhttp://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=107966&view=Detail
Joanie Kleypas, Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Founder of Raising Coral Costa Rica
Coral reefs were once thought of as indestructible, but we are now losing corals at an ever-faster pace. Halting the loss of coral reefs depends on two major lines of action: keeping global temperature rise to less than 1.5°C and actively restoring coral reefs through propagation of climate-resilient corals and “replanting” them on damaged reefs. Joanie Kleypas will provide the latest information on the coral reef crisis and discuss her project in Costa Rica to raise corals and how it has changed her relationships with coral reefs and people.
About Joanie Kleypas
Joanie thinks a lot about the oceans, coral reefs, and climate change. She has worked on coral reefs for more than 30 years, including trying to understand how climate change and ocean acidification will shape the future state of coral reefs. She has worked for years with oceanographic modelers to look for “climate refugia” for coral populations. She continues to pursue that work, but the refugia are getting smaller and it’s clear that traditional ways to conserve coral reefs will not be enough. So she recently started an active reef restoration project on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Getting back in the water has been a positive and practical way to work on solutions for coral reefs. The project is also proving to be surprisingly effective in communicating about climate change with the public.
These programs are made possible due to the generous support of the Lowell Institute. Founded in 1836 with a mission to inform the populace regardless of gender, race, or economic status, the Lowell Institute has reached thousands of Boston-area residents by sponsoring free public lecture
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Friday, June 14
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Summer Symposium 2019: Machine Learning and Cancer
Friday, June 14
8:00am to 5:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium 48 Massachusetss Ave (Rear), W-16, Cambridge
Machine Learning and Cancer
The 18th Annual Koch Institute Summer Symposium on June 14, 2019 at MIT's Kresge Auditorium will focus on Machine Learning and Cancer.
Both fields are undergoing dramatic changes, and their integration holds great promise for cancer research, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Cancer treatment and research have advanced rapidly with an increasing reliance on data-driven decisions. The volume, complexity, and diversity of research and clinical data—from genomics and single-cell molecular and image-based profiles to histopathology, clinical imaging, and medical records—far surpasses the capacity of individual scientists and physicians. However, they offer a remarkable opportunity to new approaches for data science and machine learning to provide holistic and intelligible interpretations to trained experts and patients alike. These advances will make it possible to provide far better diagnostics, discover possible chemical pathways for de novo synthesis of therapeutic compounds, predict accurately the risk of individuals for development of specific cancers years before metastatic spread, and determine the combination of agents that will stimulate immune rejection of a tumor or selectively induce the death of all cells in a tumor.
The symposium will address these issues through three sessions:
Machine Learning in Cancer Research: the Need and the Opportunity
Machine Learning to Decipher Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms in Cancer
Machine Learning into the Clinic
Sessions will be followed by a panel discussion of broadly informed experts moderated by MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield.
Introductory remarks will be given by symposium co-chairs and Koch Institute faculty members Regina Barzilay, Aviv Regev and Phillip Sharp.
Keynote Speakers | Machine Learning in Cancer Research: the Need and the Opportunity
James P. Allison, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Regina Barzilay, PhD, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Aviv Regev, PhD, Broad Institute, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Session Speakers
Michael R. Angelo, MD, PhD, Stanford Unviersity
Andrew Beck, PathAI
Stephen H. Friend, MD, PhD, Sage Bionetworks
Tommi Jaakkola, PhD, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Dana Pe’er, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Peter Sorger, PhD, Harvard Medical School
Olga Troyanskaya, PhD, Princeton University
Brian Wolpin, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Panel Discussion | Big Data, Computation and the Future of Health Care
James (Jay) Bradner, MD, Novartis
Aine Hanly, PhD, Amgen
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, American Society of Clinical Oncology
Constance D. Lehman, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
David Schenkein , MD, Google Ventures
Moderator: Susan Hockfield, PhD, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
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Saturday, June 15
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DayCon 2019: The Art of Science
Saturday, June 15
10 am to 4:30 pm
Harvard, Northwest Building, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6x8MKnbQMyi4gH1V--krRA01EtzY6Yqp6GukhEx9NziKEtA/viewform
DayCon is a free, daylong science conference consisting of talks and interactive demonstrations given by graduate student scientists. This year’s talks are:
Design and materials in architecture
Symmetry: The beauty in art and fundamental physics
The science of color
The neuroscience of music perception
The art and science of electron diffraction
Exotic states and modes of light
Music therapy and the difference between noise and music
Imaging the X-ray Universe
The Art-Brain Connection: the science behind synesthesia
Personal stories at the intersection of science and art
Using science, and the study of insight, to understand the creative process
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Charles River Swimming Day and Afterparty
Saturday, June 15
12pm - 4:30pm
Fiedler Dock, Charles River Esplanade, Boston
Cost: $10
Afterparty
6pm - 8pm
Za Pizza Cambridge - Afterparty, 350 Third Street, Cambridge
Cost: $30
You can now register for our City Splash community swim and afterparty, taking place on June 15th, 2019. The community swim will run from noon to 4:30 p.m. at Fiedler Dock on the DCR's Charles River Esplanade. Changing tents and a bag check will be available as well as dryland activities and food trucks. Afterwards, head across the river to Za Cambridge in Kendall Square for pizza, salad, and drinks at our Afterparty from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration for City Splash costs $10 and tickets to the Afterparty are $30. Save $5 if you register for both events by using the discount code provided after your first registration! We expect to sell out so don't delay--register for City Splash and purchase Afterparty tickets today!
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Futurefood
Saturday, June 15
1pm - 4pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Matthew Battles, Keith Hartwig, and Jessica Yurkofsky of metaLAB offer “FUTUREFOOD,” an interactive culinary encounter. Sample honey toffee and a flight of honey waters prepared by chef Nate Phinisee. Learn about bee health and honey DNA from Best Bees, a local research and beekeeping company. Free.
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Guns Down: A Conversation with Igor Volsky on how to build a safer future with Fewer Guns
Saturday, June 15
7:00pm
Trident Booksellers, 338 Newbury Street, Boston
Igor Volsky will be speaking about the history of the gun violence prevention movement, where it's been, how it's evolved, and will read from his book on the subject. Igor argues that we know exactly what we must do to save lives and lays out the roadmap for achieving it. He will also be happy to take and answer questions.
About the Book
In Guns Down, Igor Volsky tells the story of how he took on the NRA just by using his Twitter account, describes how he found common ground with gun enthusiasts after spending two days shooting guns in the desert, and lays out a blueprint for how citizens can push their governments to reduce the number of guns in circulation and make firearms significantly harder to get. An aggressive licensing and registration initiative, federal and state buybacks of millions of guns, and tighter regulation of the gun industry, the gun lobby, and gun sellers will build safer communities for all. Volsky outlines a New Second Amendment Compact developed with policy experts from across the political spectrum, including bold reforms that have succeeded in reducing gun violence worldwide, and offers a road map for achieving transformative change to increase safety in our communities.
About the Author
Igor Volsky is the co-founder and executive director of Guns Down America, an organization dedicated to building a future with fewer guns. He made headlines in 2015 for shaming lawmakers who took money from the NRA and sent "thoughts and prayers" after mass shootings. A lively interlocutor, he has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, CNBC television, and many radio shows. The author of Guns Down: How to Defeat the NRA and Build a Safer Future with Fewer Guns (The New Press), he lives in Washington, DC.
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Sunday, June 16
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The Heat Planet - A New Approach to Climate with Christopher Haines
Sunday, June 16
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
1 Fayette Park, Cambridge
We have been told since Charles Keeling's report to Jimmy Carter that excess greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change. A careful analysis of such emissions raises important questions about this hypothesis. While excess greenhouse gases do indeed cause harm, there are other very important causes of climate change that we have not pursued due to our narrow focus on greenhouse emissions.
This is good news because most real climate problems are local and can be improved directly and in relatively short time frames. Sea level rise will still be a global issue, but the cooling we can accomplish could slow that process. There are very real opportunities here and reasons for hope.
This meetup will discuss the background of how we got here, reveal the other significant causes of climate change, and discuss what we can do about it. Learn about a truly new and promising approach to climate!
Christopher Haines is a volunteer at Bio4Climate. A member of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA), he has a background in energy efficiency and resource management, and consulted on commercial and industry energy efficiency for about 20 years. He later expanded into offering a systemic view of resource management, including water and other resources that companies use.
Christopher has particular interests in regenerative architecture, and the role that the built environment plays in global warming.
What to bring
An item of food or drink to share, tending to the healthy and organic.
Important to know
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is a small non-profit so a $10 donation is requested.
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Monday, June 17
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Webinar: 10 Agile Ideas Worth Sharing with Steven D. Eppinger
Monday, June 17
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Join us for a free webinar with Steven D. Eppinger, MIT Professor and SDM Faculty Co-Director.
About the Talk: Agile development has created a number of very effective practices through implementation largely in the software industry. Today, we are finding ways to adopt some of these agile techniques in other domains. This seminar will review a range of practices from spiral development in time-boxed sprints to various hybrids of agile combined with staged processes. With an eye toward application outside the realm of software, we will discuss how these techniques may be appropriately adjusted to suit specific development challenges. Of particular interest to the SDM community will be scaling agile processes to handle the planning and coordination demands of complex system development.
Steven D. Eppinger is Professor of Management Science at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also holds the General Motors Leaders for Global Operations Chair and has a joint appointment in MIT’s Engineering Systems Division. He is currently the faculty co-director of the System Design and Management program.
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The Green New Deal: What Will It Take to Create a Clean Energy Economy That Works for Everyone?
Monday, June 17
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Nixon Peabody, 53 State Street, Boston
RSVP at ndubin@e2.org
with Philip Joran, Vice President, BW Research Partnership; Trinh Nguyen, Director, Bosotn Mayor's Office of Workforce Development; Lara Skinner, Executive Director, The Worker Institute at Cornell University
Against a grim 12-year deadline to stave off the worst effects of climate change, the Green New Deal has emerged as a long-awaited solution to some, an example of government overreach to others, and as a lightning rod of attention to all. Among its many components, the resolution offers a vision for an equitable transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean, renewable energy. Can we cut through the noise around the Green New Deal to have a practical discussion of its possible economic effects? What are the workforce development requirements of a 21st-century clean energy economy and how might the Green New Deal help us achieve them? How do we envision a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels and what assistance might the Green New Deal offer toward creating one? And finally, what effect will sweeping policy change in Washington ultimately have in a city like Boston? Please join us a for a panel discussion where we tackle these lofty and difficult questions.
Lunch will be served.
About the Speakers:
Philip Jordan is the Vice-President of BW Research Partnership, leading the firm’s Massachusetts office. His work focuses on the impact of talent on economic prosperity and sustainable communities, and his personal passion is developing solutions that provide expanded opportunities for the most difficult to serve populations. Philip is an Associate Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he focuses his research and teaching on the future of work and implications for the U.S. and China. Philip has extensive experience studying the innovation economy, in particular, clean energy, water and environment, and ICT. He has authored dozens of reports including The United States Energy and Employment Report (USEER), The Solar Foundation's annual Solar Jobs Census, Natural Resources Canada / Eco Canada’s Energy Efficiency Labor Market Report, the Natural Resource Defense Council's American Wind Farms Report, Solar and Wind Labor Market Analyses for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, statewide clean energy studies for more than 25 states, and numerous local reports for workforce boards, community colleges, and municipalities. He recently published a book with El Sevier on the global solar industry. Philip has worked in private industry, academia, and government, including the California Community Colleges, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the United States Senate.”
Trinh Nguyen is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD), a division of the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA). Prior to her role at OWD, Trinh served as Chief of Staff at the Boston Housing Authority. Trinh has over 24 years of experience in operations, programs, resource, and budget management. She has worked for the Urban League of Massachusetts, the Boston Women’s Fund, the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, and University of Massachusetts Boston. She is currently Chair of the Neighborhood Jobs Trust, a board member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council, and a board member of the Boston Educational Development Fund (BEDF). As Director of OWD, she has helped launch such initiatives as the Tuition-Free Community College Plan, City Academy, the Greater Boston American Apprenticeship Initiative, and Boston Saves, the city's children savings account program. Trinh holds dual graduate degrees and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, was a community fellow at MIT's Department of Urban Planning, and serves as a Trustee of Bunker Hill Community College.
Lara Skinner is Executive Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell and Chair of the institute’s Labor Leading on Climate Initiative. Her research, writing, and labor education work focuses on workers and labor unions’ engagement in issues of sustainability, climate protection, and economic alternatives. She began her career in labor working with Oregon’s Farmworkers Union (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center, and as an active member of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, Local 3544. Skinner has worked for unions doing campaign research and policy development since 1999. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 2010.
About E2:
E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) was founded in 2000 on the premise that what’s good for the environment is good for the economy, and that smart environmental policies promote economic growth. Since then we’ve grown from a small group of business people to a nationwide organization with nine regional chapters and members who work or do business in every state. What we have in common is this: We care about the economy AND the environment, and we’re willing to dedicate our time and our voices to support and protect both. Learn more about E2 at https://www.e2.org
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This All-At-Onceness
Monday, June 17
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Local author Julie Schlack discusses her new book This All-at-Onceness with Cloe Axleson, editor of Congnoscenti.
In This All-at-Onceness, Julie Wittes Schlack takes us on her vivid, personal journey through the political and cultural movements that have shaped every generation from the Baby Boomers to the Parkland kids. She examines the unlikely and twisting relationship between idealism and engineering that has promised a future of progress and hope, but only occasionally delivered on it, and asks why.
Her tale begins in 1967, when both the Summer of Love and Our World, the first live broadcast to and from the entire globe, created a sense that a compassionate, progressive global village was in the making. Through the civil rights and ant-war movements to the birth of Second Wave feminism, from the wintery ‘70s to the shiny rise of corporate culture in the ‘80s, from the democratic early days of the Web to today’s social surveillance state, Wittes Schlack tells a story about idealistic energy and how it travels through time.
Personal and political, intimate and informative, bracing and comic, these linked essays take us to an abortion mill in rural Quebec, the Michigan home of numerous UFO sightings, an abandoned Shaker village, the dust-clogged air of garment sweatshops in Allentown, a philanthropic corporate breakfast, and a series of dystopian market research conferences. They ask: Are we at the gates of the digital Promised Land? Or are we exiles wandering in the desert with only tweeting Kardashians for company?
Julie Wittes Schlack is a writer and teacher. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous journals such as Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Ninth Letter, and Mashable. She reviewed books for the Boston Globe and is a regular contributor to Cognoscenti, an online journal of ideas and opinions.
Cloe Axelson is editor of WBUR’s opinion page, Cognoscenti. She previously worked for several nonprofit organizations, most recently as the director of communications for City Year and Match Education. She’s also worked as a speechwriter at the Democratic National Committee, a ghostwriter for a best-selling self-help author and as a grassroots organizer on political campaigns.
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Tuesday, June 18
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Refuah Shleima - Healing Ourselves in a Time of Climate Disruption
Tuesday, June 18
1:00 - 2pm
Webinar
RSVP at jcan.intern@gmail.com
This is an online conversation series for those struggling with despair and seeking resiliency and a way forward into an unknown future sponsored by the Jewish Climate Action Network of Boston. Hosted by Rabbi Katy Allen, co-founder and President pro-tem of the Jewish Climate Action Network and spiritual leader of Ma’yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope
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Nanobiotechnology
Tuesday, June 18
3 pm
MIT, TBA
Robert Langer
More information at https://mitnano.mit.edu/perspectives
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Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope & Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House
Tuesday, June 18
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes former Obama Administration staffers JENNA BRAYTON, ELEANOR CELESTE, and MOLLY DILLON for a discussion of their new book, Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope & Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.
About Yes She Can
They were teens when Barack Obama announced he was running for president. They came of age in the Obama Era. And then they joined his White House. Smart, motivated, ambitious—and ready to change the world.
Here are ten inspiring, never-before-told stories from diverse young women who got. Stuff. Done. They recall—fondly, with humor and a dose of humility—what it was like to literally help run the world.
Yes She Can is an intimate look at Obama's presidency through the eyes of some of the most successful, and completely relatable, young women who were there. Full of wisdom they wish they could impart to their younger selves and a message about the need for more girls in government, these recollections are about stepping out into the spotlight and up to the challenge—something every girl can do. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.
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Resource
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Envision Cambridge citywide plan
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Climate Resilience Workbook
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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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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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