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 MoreClub of Rochester
Thursday, May 1, 6:30pm - 7:30pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Join area MIT alums for an in-person tour of the collections of Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery. The tour begin aat 6:30PM on Thursday, May 1 and will last about an hour and will be led by a gallery docent. The museum is at 500 University Avenue.
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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 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)
Club of Rochester
Friday, May 30, 3:00pm - 5:30pm (America/New_York)
Event Details
Tour of the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics
When: Friday, May 30,2025 at 3:00 PM
Where: 250 E River Rd, Rochester, NY 14623
Free, Registration will open on May 1, Attendance is limited to 25.
The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) was founded in the fall of 1970. The mission of the Laboratory was to investigate the interaction of intense laser radiation with matter. LLE was established as a multidisciplinary teaching and research center for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Join us for a tour of this unique resource right here in Rochester.
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Learn MoreMIT 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
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><strong>The Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project</strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Wôpanâak was the language spoken by the indiginous people living in this region when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">After a couple hundred years of colonial laws, wars, and diseases, hundreds of Wôpanâak tribes were reduced to four small fragmented communities, and the </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px;"><strong>OUR SPEAKERS:</strong></span></p>
<p><img src="https://d21hwc2yj2s6ok.cloudfront.net/shrine_store/uploads/networks/143…; alt="" width="150" height="150"><br>Jessie (Little Doe) Baird</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Jessie (Little Doe) Baird</strong> is the Director of Linguistics, Lead Linguist, and a co-founder of the <a href="https://www.wlrp.org/"><strong>Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project</strong></a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">This inspired her to start researching everything she could find out about the original Wôpanâak language, and in 1993 she co-founded the<strong> </strong>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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">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).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">For this seminal work, Jessie was granted a <strong>Masters in Linguistic Science from MIT</strong> in 2000.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>In recognition of this and other brilliant achievements</strong> ...</span></p>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">In 2010, Jessie was honored with a <strong>MacArthur Fellowship</strong> (a.k.a MacArthur Genius Award).</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">In 2017, Jessie received and <strong>Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">In 2020, Jessie was named one of <strong>USA Today's "Woman of the Century."</strong></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Jessie and her work on Wôpanâak language reconstruction are the subject of a PBS documentary: <a href="https://www.makepeaceproductions.com/video-wamp-trailer.html"><em>We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân</em></a>, directed by Anne Makepeace.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 16px;">Jessie also serves as the vice-chairwoman of the <a title="Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashpee_Wampanoag_Tribe">Mashpee Wôpanâak Indian Tribal Council</a>. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="https://d21hwc2yj2s6ok.cloudfront.net/shrine_store/uploads/networks/143… Kelley</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong>Tracy Kelly</strong> is the Director of Programming for the <span style="font-size: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.wlrp.org/"><strong>Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project</strong></a>. She was granted a <strong>Master in LInguistic Science from MIT</strong> in 2020.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><strong>Our Annual Education Event</strong></span></p>
<p>Prior to our presentation, <strong>Carol Bogin</strong>, 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:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Lynn Bruneau Scholarship, which is awarded to all Cape Cod high school seniors matriculating into MIT.<br> </li>
<li>$600 mini grants, primarily awarded to Cape Cod secondary schools, for STEM-related projects.<br> </li>
<li>STEM Book Awards for the top STEM juniors at 17 Cape Cod schools, consisting of a commendation letter, a certificate suitable for framing, the book "Nightwork" (an illustrated collection of memorable MIT Hacks) and a $100 Amazon gift card with which the awardee can use to purchase a number of STEM-related books from Amazon.<br> </li>
<li>Full sponsorship for all Cape Cod teacher accepted into MIT's SEPT (<a href="https://sept.mit.edu/">Science and Engineering Program for Teachers</a>) summer program.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px;"><strong>Lunch at Alberto's Ristorante</strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">There will be a <strong>cash bar</strong> and we will be offering the same entrees as before (gluten-free is available upon request). All meals include a <strong>house salad</strong> and <strong>Tartuffo dessert</strong>.</span></p>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Chicken Parmagian</strong> - Breaded chicken cutlet topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese. Served with penne pasta.<br><br></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Pork Osso Bucco</strong> - Pork shank cooked with celery, carrots, and onions in a Barolo wine sauce. Served with mashed potatoes broccoli.<br><br></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Baked Scrod</strong> - Fresh baked scrod with seasoned breadcrumbs, white wine, and lemon touch of butter. Served with pasta and vegetables.<br><br></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>Farcite Napoletana</strong> (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">vegetarian</span>) - Eggplant rolled &amp; stuffed with ricotta cheese, baked with San Marzano plum tomato sauce &amp; three cheeses. Served with penne pasta.</span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal link-bold"> </p>
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)