Blog from November, 2011

Hi Again,

Some of you have asked for more information about MIT BLOSSOMS and about level of commitment, should you decide to move forward with the design and creation of a BLOSSOMS video learning module.

So, to answer any questions you might have, we will hold a

BLOSSOMS Contest Q&A session

as follows:

Where: MIT E40-298
When: Wednesday Nov. 16
4:00 - 5:00 PM

Hope to see you there! If you can't make it and if you have questions, simply send me an email. I promise rapid response!

Best to all,
– Dick

Applications are being accepted for the Chateaubriand Fellowship program offered by the Embassy of France. The program offers 10 months of support for Ph.D. students from U.S. institutions to conduct research in France. There are two programs: one is a STEM fellowship program and the other focuses on Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). Recipients receive a stipend, health insurance, and funds for roundtrip travel to France. The deadline for the HSS program is December 31, 2011; STEM Fellowship applications are due February 1, 2012. According to the announcement, “Candidates do not have to be U.S. citizens, but French citizens are not eligible to apply. Students must be enrolled in at an American university.”

More information is available at: chateaubriand-fellowship.org

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is accepting applications for the 2012 NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships which “seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate student researchers who show significant potential to contribute to NASA’s strategic goals and missions.” The applications must be submitted by institutions of higher education “on behalf of highly qualified individuals pursuing or planning to pursue Master’s (e.g., M.S.) or Doctoral (e.g., Ph.D.) degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at their respective institutions.” Applications are due January 11, 2012. Awards may be up to 4 years in length and the program is contingent upon appropriation of the necessary funds.

More information is available at: nasa.gov/offices/oct/early_stage_innovation/grants/2012

Please RSVP by Monday@5pm

Our next research forum will be held next Wednesday, November 16, 12pm-1:00pm in E40-298. Please join us for lunch and a talk by current PhD student Candy Brakewood (details and upcoming talks below).

Please RSVP by next Monday (Nov 14) at 5pm.

Hope to see you there.

Best, Rebecca & Vivek

Wednesday, November 16, 12pm-1:00pm (E40-298)
Speaker: Candace Brakewood

Title: Riding in Real-Time: Information Provision and User Behavioral Response in Public Transportation Systems

Abstract:
Urban systems are becoming increasingly digitized, and this trend has important implications for the complex sociotechnical systems at the core of major metropolitan areas, including the transport network. In the context of public transportation systems, which form the backbone of many metropolitan mobility systems, transit providers are now leveraging real-time and distributed communication and computation technologies to provide information for their customers’ use. As traveler information systems become increasingly sophisticated in functionality, additional information is rapidly being integrated into these platforms. Attributes of transport alternatives that were previously not (easily) quantifiable – such as crowding levels, measures of reliability, and environmental impacts – may now be provided to travelers, and this trend is likely to increase as riders become more connected and demand higher levels of personalized, dynamic information.

It is hypothesized that these advanced information systems will enable transit riders - or potential transit riders - to make travel choices that more fully represent their preferences. Because information is available at the time and level of detail necessary to influence their decision-making process, it could have a significant impact on short term travel choices. Furthermore, the literature suggests that these various factors (e.g. crowding, reliability, health impacts, etc.) are likely to impact individual travelers differently. Given these hypotheses, the modeling approach should be able to accommodate these heterogeneities. Two key techniques have been advanced to account for such heterogeneity in choice models: the finite mixture model and the mixed logit model. Using these flexible modeling approaches, the research objective is to provide a comprehensive study on the emerging types of information that may influence the daily choices of transit users and potential transit users.

Bio:
Candace “Candy” Brakewood is currently a second year Doctoral Student in the Engineering Systems Division, although she has been at MIT for a very long time, since she previously did two masters degrees, one through the Master of Science in Transportation Program (2010) and another in the Technology Policy Program (2010).

Candy’s research focuses on the use of new information and communication technologies to improve public transportation systems. As you can probably tell from her high level of energy, Candy really loves public transportation, and she can’t get enough of riding buses and trains.

Candy is still scoping her dissertation proposal, so this talk will be a work-in-progress. Feel free to come and rip up her research, but if you plan to throw rotten tomatoes or vegetables, please consider bringing something a little sweeter (since Candy loves anything sweet).

Upcoming Speakers
November 16, 12pm-1:00pm: Candace Brakewood
November 17, 11am-2:00pm: Special GE Research Event Joint with TPP
MONDAY, November 21, 12pm-1:00pm: Regina Clewlow (special day, as part of MIT Open House)
December 2, 12pm-1:00pm: Rebecca Saari
December 16, 12pm-2pm: Ellen Czaika & Fernando de Sisternes

----------------------------
Rebecca Saari
PhD Student in Engineering Systems
MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
E19-411-ST9
saarir@mit.edu

Hello all,

The first info session for prospective GRTs will be next Thursday, 11/17, from 6-7pm, in the Sidney-Pacific Multi-Purpose Room.

Attendance at an info session is not mandatory for applicants, but it is a great opportunity to discuss the responsibilities and benefits of the role with a current GRT and an RLP staff-member.

For those who cannot make this one, we will also have info sessions on the following dates (locations to be announced):

Tue., 12/06, 6-7pm
Wed., 01/04, 12-1pm
Mon., 01/30, 6-7pm

– Jordan Peck

--------

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Residential Life Programs office has begun the process of recruiting and selecting Graduate Resident Tutors for MIT's undergraduate residential communities for the 2012-2013 academic year. As you probably know, GRTs play an integral role in the lives of our students and have the opportunity to make a positive impact on our community as a whole. We have been told that most GRT candidates hear about the opportunity through e-mail or word-of-mouth, so we'd like to ask for your help: if you know a grad student who would make a great mentor and community-builder, please make sure he or she is aware of this opportunity.

Eligibility
Applicants must be MIT graduate students who have been at MIT for at least one year, or MIT seniors who are continuing as grad students next year. International students are encouraged to apply if the role (which is considered employment of 10 hours per week) is compatible with their legal work eligibility in the US. Preference will be given to candidates who are likely to remain in the role for two or more years.

Benefits
GRTs receive free housing for 12 months, a stipend of $1,460 per academic year, and opportunities to work closely with MIT faculty and undergads.

Timeline
The online GRT application is available now. The deadline for applications is February 10, 2012. Candidates may be called for interviews with House teams in February or March, and offers will be made in early April. The GRT appointment lasts from mid-August 2012 until early June 2013.

Information and Application
Candidates may find more information and apply online by visiting greta.mit.edu/apply . They may also contact the Residential Life Programs office at 617-452-4280 or be-a-grt@mit.edu with any questions. We plan to hold four optional information sessions for prospective candidates in November, December, and January— I will be in touch about dates.

Thank you for you help,

Joshua Kastorf
Senior Administrative Assistant
Residential Life Programs
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., W59-200
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-452-4280

Thu Nov 17 11am - 2 pm

Dear ESS and friends,

We are excited to bring you a special technical seminar on Modeling in Complex Socio-Technical Systems by GE Global Research. Members of the GE Research team will visit ESD on Thursday, November 17. They will present their technical work in two key areas of interest to the ESD community: (1) Smart Grid Demand Response and (2) Hospital Capacity & Safety Management. There will also be a networking event over lunch.

Speaker bios, abstracts and location will be sent out soon. Please RSVP for the event here so we plan accordingly:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dGtIdFlvU3BmcnpLc0laUWxhUGxycVE6MQ#gid=0

A special thanks to the Technology and Policy Program (TPP) for collaborating with us to organize this event.

On behalf of the ESS leadership team,

Rebecca and Vivek
ESS Research & Education Co-chairs

IAP Workshop for International Teaching Assistants

http://web.mit.edu/fll/www/iap/ <--- click here to enter the lottery for 21F.217 until December 5, 2011 at 5pm.

21F.217: Workshop in Strategies for Effective Teaching (ELS)
An intensive workshop for international Teaching Assistants. Covers special problems in teaching when English is a second language and the USA a second culture. Emphasis on practical skills and participation. Videorecording of practice sessions for feedback. Individualized programs to meet different needs.

Instructor: A.C. Kemp
Email: ackemp@mit.edu
Schedule: MTWRF ( Jan. 23-27 ONLY ) Students are expected to attend all sessions.
Time: 2:30 - 5:00pm 
Location: 14N-225

 Selection by departmental lottery. Do not pre-register on WebSIS. 

Level: G 1-0-2 units 
Standard A-F grading.
Attendance and preparation is mandatory.
Signup will BEGIN Monday, November 7, 2011 at 9:00 AM and will END Monday, December 5, 2011 at 5:00 PM.
 Students who have been placed in a subject will receive an email message by 12:00 noon on Friday, December 9, 2011. If you do not receive an email by this date, then you were not placed in a Foreign Languages and Literatures IAP credit subject(however you may be on a waiting list - see below).

 Students who are given slots in a subject must confirm their intention to take the subject no later than 5:00 PM on Monday, December 12, 2011. Exact instructions for confirming a place will be included with the initial placement message. Failure to confirm will eliminate the student from the subject's roster and the slot will be offered to someone on the waiting list.

***************************************************
Andrea Wirth
Undergraduate Academic Administrator
Foreign Languages & Literatures
Bldg. 14N-310, M.I.T.
Cambridge, MA 02139
phone: (617) 253-4550
fax: (617) 258-6189
awirth@mit.edu

Hi all:

If you are taking the General Exams in Winter, it's time to get working on some logistical details: https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/ESSLounge/General+Exams

Specifically:

• Please update the wiki with your committee composition and written exam question authors
• Figure out when you and your committee are available for orals, and update the doodle: http://www.doodle.com/9frpn5kzuewxwy2n

Thanks, all!
-Beth

Hi everyone!

The 2nd Annual MIT Transportation Showcase is taking place from 6:00pm - 9:30pm on November 17th. Below are a couple of opportunities for those of you participating or attending the event:

Sign up for the Bombardier Lunch: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE5NYnFHR2tQVmM5UUpQUm1fVV9lZHc6MQ

Bombardier, one of the main sponsors for the 2nd MIT Transportation Showcase is interested in meeting MIT students in a private lunch. They will be hosting the event on November 17 (the day of the showcase) from 12 to 1:30. Place TBD. RSVP is REQUIRED by Nov 11th.

If you are looking for a job, submit your resume to the resume pool!

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A JOB.. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!!! We will also have a resume pool for the transportation companies present at the event. All students interested in any form of transportation are welcome to submit their resumes by emailing them to the following address: transportation.showcase@mit.edu. The following companies will attend the event:

1. Amadeus
2. Bombardier
3. Booz Allen Hamilton
4. Cambridge Systematics
5. Caliper Corporation
6. IBI Group
7. ICF SH&E
8. Metro-North Railroad
9. MBTA
10. MTA
11. NOMADRON
12. Parsons Brinckerhoff
13. Steer Davies Gleave
14. The Volpe National Transportation System
15. TOYOTA (interested in looking at research)
16. Young Professionals in Transportation – Boston Chapter (YPT)
17. FORD (MAYBE!)

This year, the Manager of Future Mobility Research Department of the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) will be attending the event, and he is eager to see the latest and greatest from MIT. Will he has requested resumes, he is more interested in seeing research projects. Therefore, I encourage you all to take this opportunity to present your work. Group/team projects are welcome to present.

Hope to see you all at the event,

Jameson Toole
ESD, PhD Student

We are pleased to inform you that the application is now open for the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) at https://www.krellinst.org/doecsgf/application/. This is an exciting opportunity for doctoral students to earn up to four years of financial support along with outstanding benefits and opportunities while pursuing degrees in fields of study that utilize high performance computing technology to solve complex problems in science and engineering.

Benefits of the Fellowship:
• $36,000 yearly stipend
• Payment of all tuition and fees
• $5,000 academic allowance in first year
• $1,000 academic allowance each renewed year
• 12-week research practicum at a DOE Laboratory
• Yearly conferences
• Career, professional and leadership development
• Renewable up to four years
Applications for the next class of fellows are due on January 10th, 2012. Your help in promoting the opportunity at your institution would be much appreciated. Please display or forward on the DOE CSGF poster (http://www.krellinst.org/csgf/sites/default/files/How_To_Apply/2012-13_CSGF_Poster.pdf ) for interested students.

For more information regarding the fellowship and to access the online application, visit http://www.krellinst.org/csgf

Thanks,
Jeana
–
Jeana Gingery, Coordinator
DOE CSGF Program
Krell Institute
1609 Golden Aspen Dr.
Suite 101
Ames, IA 50010
515-956-3696
Fax 515-956-3699
gingery@krellinst.org

RSVP required: http://civic.mit.edu/event/civic-media-lunch-christina-xu

Christina Xu and the Institute on Higher Awesome Studies

Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Christina Xu is the founding director of the Institute on Higher Awesome Studies, an organization dedicated to nurturing small awesome ideas around the world; she also serves as a trustee on the Boston chapter of the Awesome Foundation. By day, she is employee #1 at Breadpig, an uncorporation that publishes webcomics and funnels the goodwill of geeks worldwide towards worthy causes.

The Awesome Foundation movement was started in Boston in 2008, when a group of 10 acquaintances decided to give away $1000 of their own pooled money every month to awesome projects and individuals, no strings attached. They called it "the MacArthur for micro-flashes of brilliance". Spreading mostly by word of mouth, there are now 25 Awesome Foundation chapters on 4 continents with no formal centralized organization. The Institute on Higher Awesome Studies (IHAS) was founded to promote the Awesome Foundation model within a development and revitalization context. In June 2011, IHAS received a grant from the Knight Foundation to start Awesome Foundations focused on journalism and civic media; the pilot chapter is called Awesome News Taskforce: Detroit.

RSVP required: http://civic.mit.edu/event/civic-media-lunch-christina-xu

Andrew Whitacre
Communications Manager
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(617) 324-0490
awhit@mit.edu
cms.mit.edu | civic.mit.edu | gambit.mit.edu

"We seek candidates with excellent scholarly credentials who have diverse interests, intellectual curiosity, passion for undergraduate education, and the ability to communicate and work well in teams. We particularly welcome applications from individuals with expertise in Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Design, Entrepreneurship, and Mathematics who have the desire and the ability to contribute to cross-disciplinary learning. While we primarily seek candidates at the Assistant Professor rank, outstanding candidates at higher ranks will also be considered."

http://olin.edu/faculty_staff/postings/09222011_mult_fac.aspx

c/o Vivek Sakhrani

Early Registration Deadline: Today
The deadline for NECSI Winter School early registration is today, November 7.
The details are below and online: http://necsi.edu/education/school.html
Jan. 2-6, 2012 / Complex Physical, Biological & Social Systems
Jan. 8, 2012 / Computer Programming and Complex Systems
Jan. 9-13, 2012 / Complex Systems Modeling and Networks
TARGET AUDIENCE
These courses are intended for faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, professionals and others who would like to gain an understanding of the fundamentals of complex systems, and develop methodological tools for conducting research in their respective fields, or as a basis for pursuing complex systems research.
The winter school offers two intensive week-long courses. The courses consist of lectures, discussions, and supervised group projects. Though the second week builds on material covered in the previous week, CX201 is not a prerequisite for CX202. You may register for either or both weeks. If desired, arrangements for credit at a home institution may be made in advance.
See course descriptions online at: http://necsi.edu/education/school.html

ESD celebrates launch of new MIT Press Engineering Systems Book Series

Launch event on Thursday, November 17th
5:00-6:30pm in Building E14, Room 674

MIT Engineering Systems Division is pleased to announce a special event celebrating the launch of the MIT Press Engineering Book Series. The series currently includes these titles:

• Flexibility in Engineering Design - Richard de Neufville and Stefan Scholtes
• Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World - Olivier L. de Weck, Daniel Roos and Christopher L. Magee
• Engineering a Safer World: Systems Thinking Applied to Safety - Nancy G. Leveson
• Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications - Steven D. Eppinger and Tyson R. Browning

You can read much more about the series on the MIT Press website. The celebration will include refreshments and brief remarks on the series.

Dear Professor Newman,

I recently joined Ohio State to establish a new institute in science and technology policy research. Some of the most interesting research going on in this field relates to modeling scientific and technological innovation as complex systems. Large scale data mining and network analysis are two areas of research that are rapidly emerging as some of the most important in this field. It occurs to me that you may have a student who is interested in continuing research in this direction as a post-doc at the Battelle Center/Ohio State. Please see the job posting below, and let me know if you have someone to recommend. Thank you for considering this opportunity.

https://www.jobsatosu.com/applicants/jsp/shared/position/JobDetails_css.jsp?postingId=536157

Caroline S. Wagner, Ph.D.
(Amb) Milton A. & Roslyn Z. Wolf Chair in International Affairs
John Glenn School of Public Affairs
The Ohio State University
1810 College Avenue N
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Wagner.911@osu.edu
www.battellecenter.org