Artificial Intimacy: Who Do We Become When We Talk to Machines?
MIT Alumni Association
MIT Alumni Association
MIT Alumni Association
Wednesday, April 30, 3:00pm - 4:00pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Members of the Cardinal & Gray Society, Emma Rogers Society, and School of Humanities, Arts, and Sciences (SHASS) alumni are invited to hear from Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science. She will discuss her work at the intersection of psychology and AI and its effects on human connection.
Contact
Lizzie Army - earmy@mit.edu
Learn MoreMIT Alumni Association
Friday, May 2, 6:00pm - Sunday, May 4, 2:00pm (America/New_York)
MIT Alumni Association
Saturday, May 3, 11:45am - 9:00pm (America/New_York)
Club of Puget Sound
Wednesday, May 7, 6:00pm - 8:00pm (America/Los_Angeles)
Event Details
Please join the MIT Club of Puget Sound and the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society for a fascinating look into the impacts of climate change on mountain peak elevations and the challenges associated with measuring their elevations.
When: May 7, 2025 from 6pm – 8pm, talk begins at 6:30pm (pizza and drinks available at 6pm)
Where: Sinegal 200 - Oberto Commons (2nd floor): Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation, Seattle University, 901 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Our speaker is Dr. Gilbertson ( MIT SB '08, SM '10, PhD '14) an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Seattle University, where he teaches statics and dynamics courses, and an advanced controls class involving robotics. Dr. Gilbertson will be discussing his efforts to survey the current elevations of the five last remaining “icecap” peaks of the lower 48 states, which are all in WA (Rainier, Liberty Cap, Eldorado, Colfax, East Fury). These peaks are melting lower, and so now only two remain as icecap peaks. This ongoing lowering of these peak elevations has gone unnoticed since no one had been measuring these changes. His findings on the lowering of Mt Rainier (https://www.countryhighpoints.com/mt-rainier-elevation-survey/ ) were covered in a variety of media outlets in October 2024 (https://www.countryhighpoints.com/media-coverage/)
Dr. Gilbertson received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. His masters research focused on developing a safety valve for offshore oil wells in collaboration with Chevron. His doctoral dissertation focused on controlling underwater robots in difficult acoustic communication environments, in collaboration with the Office of Naval Research. Before joining SU Dr. Gilbertson taught at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, Russia, and at the Seattle Colleges.
Pizza and a variety of drinks will be available. Please RSVP by April 30, so we can buy the right amount of food.
If you are an MIT alumnus, or otherwise have an account in this system, please be sure to log in before registering since this will connect your registration to your account.
Current Members of the MIT Club of Puget Sound & their guests: [Explore yearly Club membership options here] Cost is $10 per person to help offset the cost of this event.
Other Alumni +& their guests (registration opens March 22): Cost is $20 per person to help offset the cost of this event.
For more information, please see the following:
https://www.countryhighpoints.com/
https://www.seattleu.edu/directory/profiles/eric-gilbertson-phd.php
Google Maps location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/mhJ6wrfwzQ2KbuAo8
Driving Directions: https://www.seattleu.edu/life-at-seattle-u/our-campus/getting-to-seattle-university/
Parking: Main Visitor lot entrance on Marion across street from Sinegal Center) https://www.seattleu.edu/transportation-and-parking-services/visitor-parking/
There is often parking along 12th Ave.
Contact
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.
Contact
Learn MoreMIT Alumni Association
Tuesday, May 20, 1:00pm - 2:00pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Join researchers from MIT’s K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Center as they share cutting-edge water and agriculture projects underway across the MENA region. Focused on creating solutions that can feed a growing society in the face of water stress, climate change, and energy limitations, the Yang GEAR Center has realized low-cost, renewable-powered technologies in drip irrigation and desalination that dramatically cut water and energy use while being cost effective for farmers. Now it’s time to bring them to market! Learn how the center’s pioneering approach is building resilience across the region—and how MIT alumni and friends can help drive lasting impact for low-resource communities across MENA.
Amos Winter
Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Director, K. Lisa Yang GEAR Center at MIT
Amos Winter leads MIT’s Yang GEAR Center, where he and his team engineer bold, high-performance, low-cost technologies that tackle critical challenges in water, agriculture, health, and energy in resource-limited settings. His work blends deep technical expertise with user-centered design and global partnerships to deliver real-world impact. Winter earned his PhD in MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department before joining the faculty in 2012.
Mohamed Naouri
Hock E. Tan Postdoctoral Fellow, K. Lisa Yang GEAR Center at MIT
Mohamed Naouri designs smart, sustainable irrigation and desalination systems for smallholder farmers in North Africa and beyond. With a background in agricultural sciences and hands-on engineering and policy experience across Africa, Asia, and Canada, he brings a deep commitment to water access, farmer-led innovation, and scalable solutions tailored to local needs. Naouri holds dual PhDs from L'École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique d'Alger and Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II.
Fiona Grant
PhD candidate, Mechanical Engineering
Fiona Grant is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering focused on designing solar-powered drip irrigation systems that meet the needs of farmers in resource-constrained and water-stressed environments. Before joining the Yang GEAR Center, she earned her SB and SM degrees in mechanical engineering at MIT. Grant has previously conducted research on small-scale desalination for villages in India, underwater vehicle propulsion, and the effects of dust deposition on solar plant production in the Atacama Desert. Her research interests include system optimization, controls, and human-centered design, and she is excited about bringing a multi-disciplinary engineering approach to address global climate challenges.
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Learn MoreMIT Alumni Association
Thursday, May 29, 12:00am - Sunday, June 1, 12:00am (America/New_York)
MIT Alumni Association
Saturday, May 31, 9:00am - 12:00pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
The MIT Alumni Community is invited to join us for the live Technology Day webcasts on Saturday, June 1, part of the Tech Reunions weekend celebration.
Learn MoreClub of Cape Cod
Wednesday, June 11, 5:00pm - 8:30pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
The Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project
Wôpanâak 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 Wôpanâak tribes were reduced to four small fragmented communities, and the last people for whom Wôpanâak was their first language passed away in the mid 1850's. It took only a few more generations for all traces of spoken Wôpanâak to completely fade away, with the decendants speaking only English after that.
OUR SPEAKERS:
Jessie (Little Doe) Baird
Jessie (Little Doe) Baird is the Director of Linguistics, Lead Linguist, and a co-founder of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project.
In the early 1990's she had dreams in which people were speaking in an unfamiliar language, and soon after that she thought that the language might be Wôpanâak, the language spoken by her ancestors.
This inspired her to start researching everything she could find out about the original Wôpanâak language, and in 1993 she co-founded the Wôpanâak 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 anoag 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 Wôpanâak grammar and to create a dictionary of 10,000 Wôpanâak 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.
In recognition of this and other brilliant achievements ...
Jessie also serves as the vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wôpanâak Indian Tribal Council.
Tracy Kelley
Tracy Kelly is the Director of Programming for the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. She was granted a Master in LInguistic Science from MIT in 2020.
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 MoreMIT Alumni Association
Saturday, June 28, 12:00am - Wednesday, July 2, 12:00am (America/New_York)
MIT Alumni Association
Saturday, June 28, 12:00am - Wednesday, July 2, 12:00am (America/New_York)
Club of Puget Sound
Saturday, August 16, 12:00pm - 2:00pm (America/Los_Angeles)
Event Details
Come join us one and all for our annual MIT Club picnic and Summer Sendoff event -- and we are back again this year at Lower Woodland Park, Shelter #3! The picnic is potluck format. We provide the basics--hamburgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, turkey dogs, buns, condiments, plates, utensils, grills and coals, etc. You bring something to share, such as drinks, a side dish, salad, chips, dessert, etc. (No alcoholic beverages are allowed in the park.)
We will continue our tradition of hosting a Mini-Tech Challenge Games -- and we are looking forward to help from both old and new cvolunteers! Please contact Lola at lola@alum.mit.edu if you'd like to help out and not already involved in planning!
Cost = Free; please bring something to share with others
Contact
Learn More