Blog from March, 2013

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The First Annual MIT Martin Luther King, Jr. Inspired Art and Performance Contest

Are you inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr or other civil rights leaders such as Ghandhi, Cesar Chavez and Harvey Milk?

Express yourself by entering your visual art (painting, photography, sculpture, video), performance art (music, song, spoken word, dance, theater) or literary work (poetry, short story, speech) to win cash prizes up to $250.00 each!

This contest is open to all MIT Undergraduates and Graduate Students!

Your entry should be related to or inspired by any of the ideals of Dr. King and/or other civil rights leaders in the past or current human rights activists in the US and the World. These ideals include freedom, justice, peace, equality, civil rights, human rights and/or social justice.

The contest event and performances will be held Wednesday, April 10 7:00 pm in the Wong Auditorium

The visual art will be displayed in the Lobby and performances will begin at 7:00 pm. Following the performances there will be a reception with refreshments and judges will award the prizes.

Deadline to submit your proposal: April 1
Use the entry form below

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cUbmdv6YKvRmpgIqm5bx8dfw2wzub32ILu_9-ac9DBA/viewform?sid=ee5b8d6552ee178&token=k0qUPD0BAAA.G9ZbHCLz7HjPn9b1vuEEAQ.GvkMCPuRgYff2vmKjNxZMw&pli=1

For more information contact visit the Committee on Race and Diversity website http://diversity.mit.edu/
or
contact Tobie Weiner iguanatw@mit.edu, 617 253-3649

This contest is sponsored by the MIT Committee on Race and Diversity and the MIT Political Science Department

Please send this out to anyone you think might be interested.

Thanks,

Tobie

Joule Fuels: A Transformative Production Platform forLiquid Fuel from the Sun
Thursday, March 21
4-5 pm
Room 54-100
Joule was founded in 2007 to develop and implement direct photosynthetic conversion to fuels and commodity products. The company has developed cyanobacterial photobiocatalysts that operate continuously in a proprietary SolarConverter to use sunlight, waste CO2 and brackish water to synthesize drop-in ethanol and paraffins.

Dan Robertson, Senior Vice President and Lead Scientist
Dr. Robertson has led the bioscience efforts at Joule since its inception in 2007. Prior to Joule, he served as Director of Enzymology at DiversaCorporation and as Vice President of Biofuels R&D for Verenium, where he led the development of microbial strains for cellulosic ethanol production. In addition to his 14 years of industrial experience, Dr. Robertson also has a 14-year academic background focused on the energetics of membrane transport and photosynthesis. He received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

Event graciously funded by the MIT BioEnergy Community and SynBERC

Questions? Contact trivedi@mit.edu.


Parthsarathi Trivedi
Graduate Research Assistant
MIT Laboratory for Aviation & the Environment

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave, Room 33-115
Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

TENURE-TRACK FACULTY POSITION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE Energy Production and Infrastructure center (EPIC) and the Systems Engineering and Engineering Management program (SEEM) at the William States Lee College of Engineering of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte invites applications for a tenure-track assistant or associate professor position in the general area of systems engineering and operations research with applications to emerging power systems and markets including, but not limited to renewable energy, smart grid, and energy storage technologies.

Candidates are required to hold or expected to complete a doctorate (PhD) in Engineering, Operations Research or a closely related energy field with strong emphasis on operations research, systems modeling and optimization. Candidates must possess excellent teamwork, leadership, interpersonal, organizational, communication skills, and must be able to multi-task that serves a diverse student population. Evidence of an existing research program or the potential to build a successful research program in the area of emerging power systems is desired. Evidence of potential for successful teaching at the university level is also essential.

Essential Job Duties
Applicants are expected to:

  • Build a strong research program in the area of energy markets, systems modeling, analysis, and optimization. In particular, EPIC will consider applicants demonstrating a desire and potential for interdisciplinary research that integrates emerging power systems.
  • Establish a strong externally funded research program in power systems engineering with focuses on renewable energy systems, Smart Grid, and energy storage technologies.
  • Teach undergraduate and graduate courses as needed under the System Engineering and Engineering Management Program.
  • Supervise graduate students' research
  • Contribute to departmental, college, and university services.

Preferred Experiences
Applicants possessing the following experiences are preferred.

  • PhD in Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Operations Research.
  • Industrial experience at an Independent Systems Operator (ISO) or power utility.
  • Research on reliability modeling and risk management for intermittent power generation due to uncertainty in renewable energy.
  • Energy systems optimization for emerging power generation and storage systems.

The starting date for this position is August 2013 or January 2014. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Only electronic application submissions through https://jobs.uncc.edu will be accepted (#4349). Please include: a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a statement of research, a statement of teaching, and a list of three references. For further questions, please contact: Systems Engineering Faculty Search Committee at UNCC-SEEM@uncc.edu.

UNC Charlotte is an AA/EOE. Women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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Dr. Ertunga C. Ozelkan, Ph.D. | Director & Associate Professor,
Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
Center for Lean Logistics and Engineered Systems | Associate Director
UNC Charlotte | Room: Cameron 204
9201 University City Blvd. | Charlotte, NC 28223
Phone: 704-687-1952 | Fax: 704-687-3616
ecozelka@uncc.edu | http://seem.uncc.edu | http://www.uncc.edu
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c/o Prof. J. Utterback

Dear colleagues

The attached call for papers for the special issue on "Information and Decisions in Social and Economic Networks" may be of interest. The special issue will be published in the journal Operations Research.
The submission deadline is July 1st, 2013.

I would appreciate if you could circulate the attached CFP.

Best regards

Asu Ozdaglar
On behalf of the Editors

NEW SPRING 2013 COURSE LAUNCHED IN H2:
15.S70/10.S95 Ideas to Impact: Foundations for Commercializing Technological Advance

Instructors: Edward Roberts, Rory O’Shea, Luis Perez-Breva, Violetta Gerasymenko
Schedule: MW 10:30 AM-12:00 PM (Begins April 1st)
Room: E62-221
Credit: 3-0-3 G(A)

Pilot subject of MIT-Skolkovo Joint Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Principles of movement of technological ideas into impact, in the forms of new and/or improved products and processes, or possibly as new companies. Mixed teams of Skolkovo engineering students with MIT students drawn from across the Institute will address technical challenges, and move them beyond technical solutions into proposals that include such commercially-oriented considerations as intellectual property, market suitability, competitive strengths, financial requirements, etc.

Class will not exceed 30 students, and will include several special students from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, as well as selected graduate students from across MIT. A few Undergraduate Seniors will also be considered for admission to the class.

Permission of instructor required. If you would like to apply, send application email immediately to eroberts@mit.edu, including a one page CV and one paragraph explaining why you want to be in the class. (Members of MIT Sloan E&I Track will not be admitted due to overlap.)

URL: http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/15/sp13/15.S70/

Global Fellows Program, a Collaboration between MIT & Imperial College

Sponsored by
Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE)
Dean for Undergraduate Education (DUE)
Global Education & Career Development (GECD)

MIT and Imperial College London are jointly offering an intensive 4 ½ day Global Fellows Program for PhD students. Through presentations, interactive work and hands-on activities, PhD students from Imperial (20) and MIT (20) will develop professional skills required to launch and manage a successful research career. Emphasis will be on creating and sustaining successful international research collaborations.

Program Dates: June 24-28, 2013
Time: 5 Days, Monday - Friday
• Participants must commit to the entire program, which includes full day events and some evenings.
• Morning programs will begin at 9:30 am; evening programs should be completed by 9:00 pm.
Location: Sharon, Massachusetts
Cost: Fellowship covers cost of travel, program and some meals.

Content: Topics covered will include:
• Building successful working relationships and global collaborations
• Team and project development
• Global intercultural skills and communication

Participants will work in small groups with either an MIT or Imperial facilitator. Faculty members from each university will present on the topic of developing and managing international collaborations as an integral part of a research career. For a brief video describing aspects of the program including student comments, please see:http://ttv.mit.edu/videos/19728-mit-imperial-global-fellows-program.

Imperial College London is a science-based institution, consistently rated amongst the world's best universities. For more information about Imperial College: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/aboutimperial.

Eligibility: PhD Students. Preference is for students who have passed qualifying exams and have a few years remaining before completing their PhD program. However, all PhD students will be considered.

Application Due Date (extended): March 25 (midnight), 2013

For more information contact: Kim Benard in the GECD, globalphd@mit.edu

Apply: Application form at http://gecd.mit.edu/about/global_fellows_application_form

Finalists will be invited to interview in April (if not on campus we will support Skype interviews).

The Sloan School of Management at MIT and the Massachusetts General Hospital are seeking  candidates for postdoctoral fellowship positions in a multiyear collaborative research project.

MGH is one of the oldest hospitals in the US, and was recently ranked first in the country. The hospital has a long tradition of innovation and excellence in clinical care and research. Over the last five years the Sloan School of Management and MGH have been collaborating on a hospital-wide project that is focused on major design and operational issues within academic medical centers. The goal of the project is to develop new scientific and data-driven methodologies, predictive models and decision support tools to design patient care processes and systems within the unique environment of academic medical centers, and apply them effectively in the MGH environment. The project is supported by the president of MGH and is considered as strategic to the organization.

Appropriate candidates should demonstrate strong research abilities, passion to conduct applied and theoretical publishable research in the respective area, as well as an ability to work within a large team of faculty, students and hospital’s clinicians and administrators.  Candidates should have a PhD by July 1, 2013 in related areas, such as operations management, operations research, statistics and machine learning and electrical engineering.

Interested candidates should send to Ariel Brandner( abrandne@mit.edu): (i) a CV including updated list of publications and at least three references and (ii) a 1-page statements that articulates their interest in the position. Emails should be titled with “MIT/Sloan-MGH Postdoctoral Fellowship in System Design and Operations of Academic Medical Centers”. *The application review will start by *March 10, 2013.

HUGS 2013
Jefferson Lab, Newport News, Virginia
May 28 - June 14, 2013

With support from the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the 28th Annual Hampton University Graduate Studies (HUGS) summer school is scheduled to run from May 28 through June 14, 2013 at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Newport News, VA. Students will arrive on Monday, May 27 and depart on Saturday, June 15.

The HUGS Program at Jefferson Lab is a summer school designed for experimental or theoretical nuclear/particle physics graduate students who have finished their coursework and have at least one year of research experience. Students who are well into a research project are encouraged to apply as well. Acceptance into the program is competitive. The 2013 school will focus primarily on experimental and theoretical topics of high current interest in strong interaction physics. In particular, students will receive excellent insight into the physics to be studied at Jefferson Lab in the upcoming years, as well as related topics of interest in nuclear and particle physics.

Speakers and Topics:

  • Nuclear Structure and Reactions
    Brad Sherrill (Michigan State U.)
  • Form Factors with Electrons and Positrons
    Michael Kohl (Hampton U. & Jefferson Lab)
  • Introduction to Statistics
    Elton Smith(Jefferson Lab)
  • Applications of Light-Front Dynamics in Hadron Physics
    Chueng Ji (North Carolina State U.)
  • Perturbative QCD and Transverse Momentum Dependence in Hadronic Collisions
    Ted Rogers (Stony Brook U.)
  • The Standard Model and the Higgs Boson
    Marcela Carena (Fermilab)

During the HUGS program at Jefferson Lab, students will attend all lectures and seminars offered. The program is simultaneously intensive, friendly, and casual. All lecturers are internationally renowned and leaders in their fields. The students will be housed on site at Jefferson Lab. There will be many opportunities to interact with Jefferson Lab staff, as well as the lecturers, other graduate students and visitors.

Student Support:

Funding limitations require us to restrict the number of fellowships that will be awarded. Each fellowship will cover tuition, fees, room and board. In exceptional cases, we will be able to provide reimbursement of most, if not all, of the student's domestic, second-class round-trip airfare or mileage, whichever is less. (Foreign students' transportation reimbursement will be limited to travel to and from the point of entry into the United States.) Students will need to supply funds for incidentals, extra meals, etc.

Application:

To apply to HUGS 2013 at Jefferson Lab summer school, please submit to the address below a completed application, a letter of request for consideration of acceptance into the program, and one letter of recommendation (ideally from your Ph.D. advisor). Submission as such will automatically place the student in the fellowship competition. The deadline for application submittal is April 2, 2013.

Applications will still be accepted after this date but fellowships will only be awarded to students submitting applications by the April 2nd deadline. All students will be notified by April 30, 2013 of acceptance.

Forward all queries to:

HUGS 2013
Jefferson Lab
Attn: Tanya-Gaye Stewart
Suite 15
12000 Jefferson Avenue
Newport News, VA 23606
http://www.jlab.org/hugs