Event Details

Join the fourth Laugh & Learn session of the Professional Development Series!

Educators and engineers Marie-Louise Murville and Malcolm Knapp have teamed up to teach essential professional skills often overlooked in traditional education, such as conflict resolution and handling difficult people. Unlike conventional training programs, Laugh & Learn blends best-practice methodologies with humor, making skill development both engaging and enjoyable.

Participants will not only learn practical strategies for real-world challenges but also engage in role-playing exercises in private breakout sessions. You’ll even watch live demonstrations of “right way/wrong way” scenarios to reinforce key concepts.

Our fourth session is titled “Conflict Resolutions Skills – Development Path Disagreements.”  (You do not need to have attended any of the earlier sessions to join the fourth!)

In this session, we explore the unique dynamics of project decision-making conflicts and why they demand approaches distinct from previous conflict types covered in our series. You'll learn techniques for crafting compelling arguments that foster resolution rather than resistance. Expect interactive role-playing, including responding to disagreements such as: 'Your idea is obviously wrong. In my 20 years of experience, I have never seen it done that way.'

How would you navigate this conversation productively? Join us to practice and refine these skills!

Presenters

Marie-Louise Murville, MIT ’82, ’84, LBS ‘94, Engineer, Educator, Entrepreneur, CEO, GoalsHabitsSkills, LLC, Adjunct Faculty, American University’s Kogod School of Business, https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-louisemurville/

Marie-Louise Murville has over 25 years of executive and Board level experience in business, consulting, and venture capital.  Marie-Louise Murville is the founder and President of GoalsHabitsSkills, LLC and an Adjunct Professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business where she teaches management information systems, technology strategy, and data analytics in the MBA program.  She is a visionary with a track record of turning ideas into reality.  In 2010, she created Delight Me, Inc. to empower people to achieve their personal and professional goals.  Previously, she founded and built medical device/biotech company Noxilizer Corporation, was a venture capitalist with Charles River Ventures and Lazard Technology Partners, and a consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc. She earned both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as a Masters in Management from the London Business School.

 Malcom Knapp, Columbia ’05, ‘06, Engineer, Consultant, Mentor, MFHK Consulting, https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmknapp/

Malcolm Knapp has over 15 years of experience as a product manager, engineer, and instructor. He is the founder of the Engineer Accelerator, a mentoring program designed to help engineers successfully transition into professional careers. Previously, he has developed and taught courses for UC Berkeley, Lam Research, and various corporate clients. As a consultant, Malcolm has worked with startups across diverse sectors, including consumer, industrial, medical, and manufacturing industries. His expertise spans customer discovery, product innovation, and efficient product delivery. He is also the creator of Orbis Analysis, a cutting-edge design sprint methodology that accelerates product prototyping by identifying unknowns, resolving conflicts, and eliminating ambiguities at the earliest stages of development. Malcolm holds a combined B.A./B.S. in Science, Technology & Society, and Electrical Engineering from Pitzer College and Columbia University and a Master of Science from Columbia University.

 Special guests and breakout room facilitators:

• Sven Romberg, American University, ‘07, Educator, Storyteller, Anthropologist https://www.linkedin.com/in/sven-romberg-46a2914/
• Zach Wilks, Columbia ’00, Michigan ‘97, Lawyer, Storyteller, Mentor, https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-wilks-6855a1277/
• Alyssa  Guo, https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-guo-8991547/

Session Format:

Duration: 60 minutes

• 1-2 min introduction
• Best Practices Frameworks: 20min
• 30 Min Breakout – Role-playing game to practice key techniques and phrases for effective communication
• 5 Recap/close

Contact

murville@alum.mit.edu

Event Details

Contact

pkuykendall@gmail.com

Event Details

Dear Alumni,

Invitation to the HumAIn Salon: Exploring AI, People, and the Future of Work

We are pleased to invite you the 4th edition of our NEW AI event : the HumAIn Salon. This is a recurring series of human-size in-person events dedicated to exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, human factors, including the future of work. This intimate gathering (~30p max)  will occur every one to two months, bringing together a small group of participants for in-depth discussions on these critical topics.

Theme: “HumAIn Intelligence: AI, People, and the Future of Work”
Format: Serial meetups featuring a blend of expert presentations and interactive exchanges
Salon Host : Léa Peersman, MIT Sloan graduate, researcher, founder of HI Lab,
Guest Speakers: Every session will feature a guest speaker from the fields of AI research, cognitive sciences, sociology, and startups, sparking the discussions and guiding our exploration.

This is a conference where we expect you to participate and share your vision! The HumAIn Salon is a collaborative forum where every voice matters, and your insights are critical to shaping our understanding of the intersection between AI and human experiences.

Join us for an engaging discussion and dinner 

We look forward to welcoming you to this enriching and thought-provoking series.

Specific Mar 25th Event Details:

Date: 25 March 2025
Time: 19:30 – 22:30
Venue: Restaurant Vauban, facing Les Invalides, 7th arrondissement, Paris

Guest Speakers:

• Clement Duhart — Clément Duhart currently serves as the Director of Strategy and Innovation at IONIS Education Group (https://www.ionis-group.com/). From 2018 to 2024, he led the Institute for Future Technologies (IFT), after founding it in 2019. Within this institute, he also headed the Artificial Lives research group, focusing on Human-Machine interfaces, mixed realities, and swarm robotics. With a solid foundation in embedded systems engineering, Clément holds a master's degree in Artificial Intelligence from the Sorbonne and earned his doctorate in computer science from the University of Le Havre in 2016. Clément's career trajectory shifted towards deep learning after his initial work in the Internet of Things and large-scale mesh wireless sensor networks. In 2015, he embarked on a collaborative venture with MIT Medialab, starting as a visiting student and later becoming a postdoc and research scientist. During this time, he contributed to the Tidmarsh project, which is dedicated to restoring industrial wastelands in wetlands. His responsibilities included developing deep learning and wireless sensor network technologies to capture dynamic changes in environmental and wildlife parameters. The ultimate goal was to construct a tele-presence reality, aiding restoration practitioners and fostering public engagement through innovative tools.

This session will explore the core question:
“Rethinking Resilience: Fostering Ingenuity in a World of Crises and AI”

In a world facing crises on every level—wars in Europe, climate change — are we, as a Nation, truly prepared to become resilient? Is our generation ready to invent in a world without abundance? To create using only what is available?

In the era of Artificial Intelligence, what is the defining value of humanity? Is it not creativity, the ability to invent, to be ingenious, to think outside the box? We think through our bodies, our space, our emotions. Our perception is the key to our ability to evolve by acting upon the world—it forces us to confront reality and, therefore, compels us to invent.

I deeply believe that, given the current context, we must rethink our societies — from a model of hyper-specialization of skills to a world of well-rounded individuals. This shift has already begun through the widespread adoption of soft skills training for better collective living. Today, it is time to train our future generations of engineers to become modern-day MacGyvers.

Over an informal dinner, Clement and Lea will share their vision and let us exchange and share.

Registration: To attend, you only pay for your dinner (3 course-meal) - please register on the MIT website. Limited Seating the dinner is at 55€ and you pay forward to reserve your seat  - We'll refund you if you cannot attend and tell us upfront.

We look forward to your participation in this important discussion.

Best regards,

Lea Peersman and Frédéric Hannoyer

MIT CdF Board member & MIT CdF President

Event Details

Join us for an evening of professional connection at our Networking & Headshots Mixer. Whether you're looking for your next opportunity or simply trying to build your network, this event is designed with you in mind.

Enjoy some refreshments and come ready to make meaningful connections.

Are you in need of a new headshot? An up-to-date headshot is key to your professional presence online. Add a mini headshot session to your ticket for $25, courtesy of photographer and alum Theresa Rideout '19 of TKR Photography. You will receive 2-3 high-resolution photographs within 3 weeks of the event. Limited to 24 tickets. 

Contact

syu@mitdc.org

Event Details

Event Details

Leadership Program for Women in STEM

Register by May 1, 2025!

More information can be found here:

https://www.epistimi.org/course-offerings

Application form:

https://www.epistimi.org/apply 

A successful career in STEMM requires more than an advanced degree and lots of publications.

The nonprofit Epistimi, Inc. was founded in 2021 to provide the MIT LEAPS course, Leading Yourself and Others, to women in STEMM globally. In 2023, the MIT LEAPS Program was awarded the Irwin Sizer Award for the “Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education” by the MIT Graduate Student Council.

Epistimi has partnered with the American College of Greece (ACG) and together we are happy to offer our one-week Epistimi-ACG leadership workshop during May 26-30, 2025 in Athens, Greece. The 5-day in-person workshop will be followed by six one hour Zoom meetings (every two weeks) in order to complete the personal work assignments. This program is for graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, assistant professors or any other early career professional woman in STEMM.

Workshop is limited to 30 participants. There will be three cohorts:

1. Energy, Climate and Sustainability

2. Health, Biotechnology and Chemistry

3. Computing, Physics, Engineering and Mathematics

Applications are due May 1, 2025.

For more information, visit https://www.epistimi.org/course-offerings  

You can also attend a 30 min information session by appointment (email epistimi.org@gmail.com):

·      

Contact

drigos@mitcob.org

Event Details

Contact

partha.anbil@alum.mit.edu

Event Details

Taylor Swift—The Person, The Music, and the Impact, a SEPT fundraiser

This special online event is a fundraiser to support the participation of local teachers in MIT’s Science and Engineering Program for Teachers (SEPT). (See website) The SEPT program presents innovative ways for middle and high school educators to teach STEM subjects.  All of the proceeds from this event will support local teachers.  If you are able to make an additional donation via the MIT Giving site to the MIT Club of Boston SEPT Fund (use this link for convenience), it will be greatly appreciated.

Do you have a Swiftie in your family, and you don’t understand the appeal?  Have you been curious about this pop musician who was able to sell out 152 stadium performances in 2023-4?  Are you looking for something fun and interesting to do with the family, while supporting a good cause?  Do you just love music?  This fast-paced musical and educational virtual event is just the thing you’ve been looking for.  Join the Zoom with your refreshments of choice at hand, and learn about Taylor Swift, her journey and her music.

Our host, David Kahn, spends a lot of time listening to music.  He listens to dozens of genres and follows hundreds of musicians/bands.  Some of these musicians are popular, and some are making excellent music in obscurity.  A couple of years ago, he decided to do a deep dive into the Taylor Swift phenomenon.  One of his daughters is a Swiftie, but other than a few of her popular songs he knew nothing about the person or her music.  David spent around 100 hours researching Taylor Swift and her music, and created a 30+ page document with over 200 links to videos, Wikipedia articles and news stories. After the program, every attendee will receive a copy of this complete document, so you can continue to explore this material on your own.

Taylor’s full discography is currently available on Spotify, and all of the official videos are on YouTube, but our speaker’s goal is to give you a more complete understanding of Taylor as an artist and as a person.  He’ll be sharing a lot of her music, but he’ll also be sharing some videos where Taylor explains her music and life experience in her own words.  David condensed a full course on Taylor Swift, supported by his detailed analysis, into this special event for the MIT Club of Boston.  By attending this session, you will see that Taylor Swift is:

• A songwriter
• A storyteller
• A performer
• A director
• A producer
• An entrepreneur
• An actress
• An activist
• A philanthropist
• A role model

David’s hope is that, by the end of this session, you’ll have a new or increased appreciation for everything Taylor Swift has accomplished.

About the Speaker

David Kahn has always been interested in music, and he collected albums and CDs in many genres back when that was the main way to explore interesting music.  Learning about music and musicians is easier now, and David spends many hours every month looking for interesting musicians and their music on YouTube and Spotify, and researching them on Wikipedia. He likes to find at least one new (to him) musician or band every week.

In 2022 he started a Music Enjoyment Club, where he shares interesting music with other music enthusiasts in a monthly Zoom session.  He organizes most sessions around a theme (Female Vocalists, Celtic Music, Piano Virtuosos, etc.), and he prepares a detailed handout for each session.

David Kahn has an SB in Course 6-3 (1978) and an SM in Course 15 (1981) from MIT.  He founded and managed D. Lawton Associates, an IT consulting firm, from 1986 through 2020.  He is currently the Asst. VP for K-12 STEM Engagement for the MIT Club of Boston and supports the MIT SEPT program.

Cost:

$15 Paid members of MIT Club of Boston
$25 General

Zoom link will be sent a day or two prior to the event to all paid registrants

Photo by Stephen Mease on Unsplash

Contact

dkahn@mitcob.org