Artificial Intimacy: Who Do We Become When We Talk to Machines?
MIT Alumni Association
MIT Alumni Association
Club of South Florida
Thursday, May 1, 6:00pm - 8:00pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Please join us for a happy hour where you can leisurely meet and greet other MIT alumni.
Free finger foods. Cash Bar: All beverage items can be purchased a la carte at discounted happy hour prices.
There is no cost to register to attend this event for current paid MIT Club members.
All others are $15 per person.
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Learn MoreClub of Cape Cod
Thursday, May 15, 11:30am - 2:30pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Prescription For Bankruptcy:
America's Failing Health Care "non-system"
Why do Americans pay more than citizens of any other country for health care and yet have, at best, mediocre health outcomes? Dr. Edward Hoffer will discuss this topic, and suggest both global solutions and practical things you can do to pay less and get better care.
Our speaker, Edward Hoffer MD
Edward Hoffer MD is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School and did his residency and fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Hoffer has held faculty academic appointments at Harvard, the University of Massachusetts, and Boston University. He has also held appointments at several Boston hospitals (Peter Bent Brigham, Beth Israel, Boston Hospital for Women), at many Boston metro-west hospitals (in Worcestor, Natick, and Framingham), and at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington. He has either authored or co-authored over 80 publications, including 8 books and dozens of refereed journal articles, many of which deal with the application of computers to various aspects of medicine and with issues within the American healthcare system (insurance, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, etc.).
For 45 years he combined clinical practice of Internal Medicine and Cardiology with research on the applications of computers and AI to medical care, and continues to work half-time at the MGH Lab of Computer Science.
He has written and lectured extensively on the problems of the American healthcare "non-system."
Lunch at Alberto's Ristorante
We will be returning to Alberto's Ristorante in Hyannis because of the many rave reviews we received for the food and service in the past.
There will be a cash bar and we will be offering the same entrees as before (gluten-free is available upon request). All meals include a house salad and Tartuffo dessert.
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Learn MoreClub of France
Tuesday, May 20, 7:00pm - 9:30pm (Europe/Paris)
Event Details
Dear Alumni,
We are very honored to welcome MIT Prof Moungi Bawendi 2023 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moungi_Bawendi
Quantum dots, one of the first engineered nanomaterials, have become ubiquitous in displays and other applications. Professor Bawendi's talk will discuss their origin story, their development, and their applications. This is a story of curiosity-based science driving innovation and technological progress.
Moungi Bawendi is the Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at MIT. His lab focuses on the science and applications of nanocrystals, especially semiconductor nanocrystal (aka quantum dots). Born in Paris, Bawendi emigrated to the United States as a child, and earned his bachelor's and master's Degrees from Harvard University. He went on to achieve a PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago. After conducting postdoctoral research at Bell Labs, he joined the MIT Chemistry faculty in 1990. In 2023, Bawendi was named a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".
We will have a sitting dinner with a composition of 3 themes to go along with the service - Each theme will have a presentation by the professor to be followed by questions from the assembly
1) Apetizer - the Early life and education
2) Entries - the Researcher life and The Quantum dots
3) Dessert: the Nobel Prize, MIT and the path forward
Frédéric Hannoyer and the MIT CdF Board
Bio:
Professor Moungi Bawendi, born in Paris, France, in 1961, is a distinguished chemist recognized for his groundbreaking work on quantum dots. After spending his early years in France and Tunisia, he moved to the United States, where he pursued higher education. He obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1988 and later conducted postdoctoral research at Bell Labs.
In 1990, Bawendi joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he became a professor in 1996. His most notable scientific contribution is the hot-injection synthesis of quantum dots, a breakthrough that enabled precise control over their size and properties, leading to wide-ranging applications in electronics, photovoltaics, and biomedical imaging.
For his pioneering work, Bawendi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Louis E. Brus and Alexey Ekimov, for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. These nanomaterials are now essential in high-definition displays, energy-efficient lighting, medical diagnostics, and solar energy technology, revolutionizing modern technology and holding great potential for future innovations in medicine, renewable energy, and quantum computing,
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Club of France
Thursday, May 22, 7:30pm - 7:30pm (Europe/Paris)
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:
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
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Club of Cape Cod
Wednesday, June 11, 5:00pm - 8:30pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
The Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project
Wampanoag was the language spoken by the indiginous people living in this region when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620.
After a couple hundred years of colonial laws, wars, and diseases, hundreds of Wampanoag tribes were reduced to four small fragmented communities, and the last people for whom Wampanoag was their first language passed away in the mid 1850's. It took only a few more generations for all traces of spoken Wampanoag to completely fade away, with the decendants speaking only English after that.
Our speaker, Jessie (Little Doe) Baird
In the early 1990's our speaker, Jessie (Little Doe) Baird, had dreams in which people were speaking in an unfamiliar language, and soon after that she thought that the language might be Wampanoag, the language spoken by her ancestors.
This inspired her to start researching everything she could find out about the original Wampanoag language, and in 1993 she founded the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project with the long-term goal of revitalizing the language, which had not be spoken for seven generations, for the people now living within the remaining Wampanoag tribes.
Because something like that had never been done before, there were many who thought that it was not even possible. But Jessie was undeterred. In her quest, she gained admission to MIT where she learned how to apply modern linguistic techniques coupled with historical records in order to understand original Wampanoag grammar and to create a dictionary of 10,000 Wampanoag words. (And she did all this while commuting between her home on Cape Cod and Cambridge while also raising four children).
For this seminal work, Jessie was granted a Masters in Linguistic Science from MIT in 2000.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Jessie then founded the Wampanoag Language School. Over the years -- and after much fund raising, curriculum development, and training of additional linguists and teachers -- there are now hundreds of members of today's Wampanoag tribes who can speak Wampanoag, from beginners to people who are fully fluent.
In recognition of all these brilliant achievements ...
Jessie also serves as the vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council.
Our Annual Education Event
Prior to our presentation, Carol Bogin, our club's VP for Education Programs, will briefly report about all the education activities and awards for this year, highlighting the many ways we support the MIT Club of Cape Cod's primary missions to promote STEM education on the Cape and the Islands, including:
Lunch at Alberto's Ristorante
We will be returning to Alberto's Ristorante in Hyannis because of the many rave reviews we received for the food and service in the past.
There will be a cash bar and we will be offering the same entrees as before (gluten-free is available upon request). All meals include a house salad and Tartuffo dessert.
Contact
Learn MoreClub of France
Thursday, June 12, 6:30pm - 10:00pm (Europe/Paris)
Event Details
Dear Friends,
You are cordially invited to join us for the American University Clubs of France's Annual Embassy Reception and Summer Cocktail on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the historic Hôtel Talleyrand. Your presence will contribute to the success and festivity of this AUC signature event.
Location: Hôtel Talleyrand, 2 Rue Saint-Florentin, 75001 Paris
Time: The entrance will be only be between 18:30 to 19:30. Our cocktail with Champagne and aperitif will begin at 19:00 and will end at 22:00. There will be a welcome speech at 19:00.
Security Information: Please remember to bring a valid picture ID with you (Passport or Carte d'Identité only). Your ID is mandatory to enter the reception and admission is by guest list only. All attendees must be on the guest list. For security reasons, the entrance will only be between 18:30 to 19:30. Please do not bring laptop computers.
Registration ends Monday June 2nd at midnight, or when tickets sell out. https://www.helloasso.com/associations/auc-france/evenements/auc-annual-embassy-reception-and-summer-cocktail-2025
Please note that the Hôtel de Talleyrand is a spectacular example of a late 18th-century Parisian mansion. We thank you in advance to take great care of its environment, floors, walls, and furniture.
We are looking forward to seeing you soon!
The AUC Board with the support of the Embassy of the United States of America in France
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