**CALL FOR ABSTRACTS**
MIT Water Night
Thursday March 21st, 5:00 to 8:30 pm
Morss Hall, Walker Memorial, MIT Bldg. 50
MIT Water Club will hold its 1st MIT Water Night on March 21st, 2013 (one day before World Water Day). MIT Water Night is a research showcase that will provide a platform for the individuals and research groups at MIT to present their latest achievements in water-related fields. This is also a great opportunity to network with other members in the community as well as attendees from industry, and discuss ideas for new collaborations/opportunities.
We are* seeking poster presenters* for this event. If you are doing water-related research and want to share your brilliant ideas, apply now *at *http://goo.gl/szIzc .
Deadline to submit abstracts: Monday, Feb. 25th, 2013
Please feel free to forward this Call for Abstracts to colleagues that may be interested in participating in this event.
For more information visit our website at http://waterclub.mit.eduor contact xux@mit.edu.
Engineering Systems Division alumna Lynette Cheah SM '08, PhD '10 and her team won the inaugural Singapore Challenge Prize at the first ever Global Young Scientists Summit@one-north (GYSS@one-north), a prestigious international conference held in Singapore. Cheah, a research scientist at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), was presented with a special medallion by Singapore's President Tony Tan and was awarded $100,000 to pursue her research. Read news item on the MIT website and on channelnewsasia.com. Cheah’s team consisted of Dr. Francisco Pereira, Senior Research Scientist for Singapore-MIT alliance’s Future of Urban Mobility Group, Dr. Erik Wilhelm, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Je McAulay, a Program Manager for Fraunhofer USA Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, and Don MacKenzie and Stephen Zoepf, current ESD PhD students.
After five days of inspiring talks, panel discussions, mentoring sessions and close interactions between eminent scientific leaders and young researchers from around the world, the inaugural Global Young Scientists Summit@one-north (GYSS@one-north) was officially closed by President Tony Tan Keng Yam, Patron of GYSS@one-north. About 350 people-15 eminent science and technology speakers, 280 top researchers and scientists from around the world, guests from the local and international research community, and industry figures-gathered at the EduSports Centre, University Town, National University of Singapore, for the GYSS@one-north Closing Ceremony.
Based on the theme of first Singapore Challenge, “Innovations for Future Cities”, the finale saw 10 young scientists presenting ground-breaking ideas to address sustainability challenges faced by global cities to a panel of distinguished judges.
Dr. Lynette Cheah impressed the judges with her research proposal to build a dynamic transportation network to shift commuters’ travel modes in response to real-time feedback and system disruptions. Under such an adaptive urban transportation network, taxis would converge at places with predicted high demand. Shuttle buses with reconfigurable routes ply the city’s streets. Taxi and car commuters share rides and vehicle occupancy rates reach near capacity. Bus and train frequencies are automatically adjusted. Flexible traffic signals change their timings according to traffic counts to efficiently smoothen traffic flow.
(1) No prerequisite in optimization is required.
MEDICINE: How does a doctor optimally radiate a brain tumor and not kill the surrounding brain tissue?
ENGINEERING: How does an engineer optimally size and arrange the truss elements of a bridge so that it is as strong as possible for a given allowable weight and cost, and avoids wind-induced resonance?
BUSINESS: Where should Wal-Mart optimally place its warehouses and distribution centers to maximize profits?
BIOLOGY: How do we optimally predict that a cell-sample is malignant or benign?
PLANNING: How does a powerplant optimally choose to produce electricity from coal, gas, and nuclear sources?
These are some of the question that you will learn how to formulate and solve in Systems Optimization: Models and Computation. Students from all departments are welcomed and encouraged to explore this exciting subject. The examples and topics are relevant to problems in business, medicine and biology, and engineering.
Final projects and hands-on applications and exercises facilitate the practical use of the techniques described in the lectures. You will develop your problem formulation and solution skills on real-world problems in homework assignments. You will formulate and solve a large-scale optimization problem according to your own interests in a final project.
The Official Description: This course is a computational and application-oriented introduction to optimization modeling of large-scale systems in a wide variety of decision-making domains. We focus on using state-of-the-art optimization software to solve models and understanding the limitations of the modeling and solution techniques. Application domains include transportation, logistics, and telecommunications system planning; pattern classification and artificial intelligence; structural and engineering design; and financial engineering. Model formulation techniques include linear optimization, nonlinear convex and non-convex optimization, as well as discrete optimization and conic semidefinite optimization. Solution techniques covered include decomposition methods, column and constraint generation, continuous mappings, stochastic programming, and conic optimization and solution methods via interior-point methods. Students will develop formulation and solution skills in homework assignments and will formulate and solve a problem aligned with their interests for a final project.
MIT Units: 3-0-9, Graduate H-level Grad Credit
Prerequisites: This course does not have required prerequisite in optimization.
Course Meeting Time and Location:
Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM in 3-333. Recitation: To be scheduled on an as necessary basis.
Course Materials: Text: Introduction to Linear Optimization, D. Bertsimas and J. Tsitsiklis, Athena Scientific, Belmont, MA, 1997, on reserve at Dewey Library (MIT).
Instructor: Brian W. Anthony TA : Sisir Koppaka
MIT Room 35-130 E-mail : koppaka@mit.edu
Telephone: 324-7437
E-mail: banthony@mit.edu
The TUM School of Management at the Technische Universität München (TUM) has several open positions for
PhD students/postdocs in Operations and Supply Chain Management
The Area of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the TUM School of Management analyses, models and optimizes decision problems occurring in the design and operation of manufacturing and service systems,including logistics and supply chains. With an emphasis on providing decision support for real-world problems, operations research and management sciencetechniques are being applied and improved. Within the Area, the positions are attached to the Production & Supply Chain Management and the OperationsManagement & Technology groups. For more information on these groups, please visit http://www.scm.wi.tum.de/.
The candidates are expected to start as soon as possible but no later then Summer 2013. Salary is depending on experience, based on the German civil servant pay scale E13 TV-L (between 66% and 100% positions).
Job description:
Most of the on-going research applies quantitative operations management methods to a variety of industries (notably food, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and electronics). We are aiming to bridge between technology and management, investigating, for example, the introduction of new products and manufacturing technologies from an operations perspective. These technological developments normally affect the way production is planned and scheduled, but often also change the way production systems and supply chains are designed. Our research aims to support these processes and as such contributes to high-quality, efficient, and sustainable operations. For additional inspiration on topics relevant to the research groups in question, please see the publication lists of the group leaders: Martin Grunow, Professor in Production and Supply Chain Management, and Renzo Akkerman, Professor inOperations Management and Technology (see http://www.scm.wi.tum.de/). Next to your research project, you will also be expected to contribute to the educational programme of the TUM School of Management.
Requirements:
For PhD students, we are looking for candidates with master’s degrees in Operations Management, Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, or related fields. For postdocs, a PhD degree in those fields is required. Candidates who are close to completion of the relevant degree will also be considered.
Application:
An application should consist of the following documents:
- Application letter, detailing why you are pursuing this position at TUM
- Curriculum Vitae, including list of publications
- Transcripts and grade lists from your degrees
- A research proposal of max. 3 pages
- Co-authored publications, if available
- For postdoc positions: summary of PhD thesis (max. 1 page)
Your application package can be sent digitally to scm@wi.tum.de, using ‘OSCM position 2013’ as subject for the mail message.
ESD Faculty, Students, and local alumni:
Please join us for the dissertation defense of Kat Donnelly.
Date: Friday, February 1st, 2013
Time: 1:00 pm
Room: E40-298
Title: Empowering Consumers to Reduce Residential Energy Waste: Designing, Deploying, and Evaluating the Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge
Committee: D. Marks (chair), S. Sarma (supervisor), T. Malone, D. Ariely (Duke)
The abstract follows, and a draft of the dissertation is available to ESD Faculty and doctoral students online
Other ESD Community members may request a draft for review from me.
Regards,
Beth
ABSTRACT
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) competitive BetterBuildings Neighborhood Program grant announcement provided an opportunity to improve Connecticut’s residential energy efficiency and clean energy program uptake rates. N2N was designed to determine the minimum conditions necessary for supporting cost-‐effective community-‐based energy efficiency program administration. The Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge (N2N) was awarded a three-‐year, $4.2 million BetterBuildings grant in August
2010. N2N steps customers in 14 small towns through actions to achieve household energy savings of at least 15 percent, such as efficient lighting, home weatherization, and more extensive home energy upgrades, like building insulation, appliance upgrades, and renewable energy installations. N2N uses Community Based Social Marketing to meet customers in the field by partnering with local community groups, town governments, low income and senior organizations, faith communities, education facilities, and business organizations, as well as through social and earned media channels.
N2N relied on action research to continuously test, learn, and adapt program design, leading to frequent process refinements and course corrections. N2N used three main components to deploy the pilot: a technology platform that tracks the customer through the sales pipeline; behavioral research; and frequently published N2N results dashboards. Chapter 1 documents scaling up the lessons learned in six topic areas: 1) contractor networks, 2) behavioral and community-‐based social science, 3) technology platform, 4) market innovation, 5) policy structure, and 6) N2N program administration. Chapter 2 describes the toolbox of community and behavioral science best practices. Chapter 3 details the N2N case study. Chapter 4 includes a behavioral economics experiment designed to compare participant reactions to varying levels of home energy performance information given the homeowner’s housing situation.
The main research finding is that Connecticut needs a fast-‐paced, testing ground for energy efficiency programs to inform policy decisions and drive market innovation outside of the current regulatory constraints. N2N’s final contribution could meet that need: the N2N Innovation Lab. N2N is currently seeking funding post-‐grant to compete as a third-‐party administrator for energy efficiency and renewable funding using the proven strategies of community-‐based organizing, contractor coordination and support, and behavioral marketing.
We invite all members of the MIT Community to join us for the second annual community service day, CityDays IAP!
Friday, January 25, 11am-5pm
First, have a free lunch at Twenty Chimneys. Then, head out into the Cambridge and Boston communities to volunteer with two local organizations:
1) The Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, works to end hunger in eastern Massachusetts. Volunteers will be inspecting, sorting, and repacking donated grocery products to be distributed to hunger relief agencies.
2) Cradles to Crayons provides poor and homeless children with supplies. Volunteers will be sorting and packaging donations into "C2C KidPacks," individualized packages of essential children's items ordered for specific in-need kids.
Public transportation to/from the service placement will be provided.
To participate, staff members need to gain permission from their supervisors to be released during normal work hours.
Please register by January 22nd!
Contact with questions or comments: Amy Fan and Kristi Gundrum Kebinger, MIT Public Service Center, W20-549, (617) 253-8968, serviceday@mit.edu
This event is sponsored by the MIT Public Service Center through generous donations from the MIT Coop & MIT Community Service Fund.
• Find a great volunteer opportunity at the MIT Community Service Fair! (2/4)
Looking to give back to your community? Build your resume? Acquire new skills? Broaden your horizons? Then come to the Spring 2013 MIT Community Service Fair! Don't miss your chance to meet over 30 local nonprofit organizations and find a great service opportunity!
Monday, February 4, 2013, 1:00-3:00pm
Lobby 10 and the Bush Room (10-105)
This event is open to the entire MIT Community, will have free food, and is sponsored by the MIT Public Service Center. For more information, contact servicefair@mit.edu.
• Register your team for the FSILG&D Community Service Challenge (Deadline: 2/5)
The FSILG&D Service Challenge encourages teams of fraternity, sorority, independent living group, and dorm participants to compete for the Service Cup over a two-month period February through April. Teams are encouraged to serve the community as a community.
In addition to helping community organizations and the populations they serve, participation in the Service Challenge certainly has its benefits for participants. Registered teams have the chance to win Service Cup winner bragging rights, publicity of team service undertakings, access to exclusive alternative spring break funding, $2,000 in service implementation funding for the upcoming academic year, meaningful opportunities for team bonding, and an acquisition of knowledge about the local community.
Register your team for the 2013 Service Challenge by February 6 at 5pm (More information about the Service Challenge can be found on the PSC’s website or by emailing servicechallenge@mit.edu.
• Apply for Alternative Spring Break funding for your Service Challenge team (Deadline: 3/1)
Teams registered to compete in the FSILG&D Community Service Challenge (register here by 2/5: http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/whatwedo/volunteering/programs/fsilgd/registration.html) may apply to subsidize one alternative spring break (ASB) project for their FSILG or dorm members.
It takes time to coordinate projects with agencies, raise needed funds, and plan travel logistics, so start searching for ASB opportunities now. Don’t let this great chance to engage in community service slip away from you! Full application guidelines can be found at http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/whatwedo/volunteering/programs/fsilgd/break.html
Submit your project proposal to servicechallenge@mit.edu by March 1. Email servicehallenge@mit.edu with questions.
Subject: ESD.S20, 11.S941 "Evaluation of Technologies for International Development"
Professors: Bish Sanyal (sanyal@mit.edu), Oli de Weck (deweck@mit.edu)
Schedule: Mondays, 3:30-5:00
Location: 4-253
Description:
Animated by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to establish the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE) at MIT, this seminar will serve as a forum on developing new methodologies for assessment of products intended to improve the quality of life of low-income households in developing countries. Sessions will explore methods of evaluation from various fields to ensure that these products are technically suitable, scalable and sustainable. In addition, the course will focus heavily on addressing real-world constraints and problems faced by development agencies, governments, NGOs, and development practitioners in general. Led by faculty and research scientists from Engineering Systems Division and Urban Studies and Planning; and drawing on presentations by practitioners from USAID, Partners in Health, Mercy Corps, Oxfam America, Consumer Reports and others this seminar will facilitate and discuss the very process of cross-disciplinary learning, incorporating knowledge and techniques from many fields including Systems Engineering, Institutional Analysis, Experimental Design, Supply Chain Analysis and Community Development. As a final project, students will be expected to develop an individual research proposal and evaluation plan focusing on a specific product. Students who write the most promising proposals may be asked to formally join the CITE research team by the end of the seminar and continue to work closely with CITE team leaders to conduct fieldwork over summer 2013.
INFORMATION LETTER
DEAR COLLEAGUES,
We have pleasure in inviting you to participate in the International Forum – Contest of students and young researchers ‘The Topical Issues of Mineral Resources Management’ which is held at the National Mineral Resources University (Mining University) on April 24-26, 2013.
The following forum workshops will be organized according to research areas:
1. Geology
2. Exploration and development of oil and gas fields
3. Mining of ore and nonmetallic minerals
4. Geodesy, geomechanics and underground construction
5. Mining electromechanics and mining equipment
6. Metallurgy. Physical and chemical regularities of technological processes 7. Economics and management
8. Environmental engineering
9. Nanotechnologies and information technologies.
The working languages of the Forum are Russian and English.
To participate in the Forum you are to send a registration form to the Organizing Committee until the deadline of March 01st, 2013. In case of delay the Organizing Committee does not guarantee preparation of an official invitation letter which is necessary for receiving a visa.
The papers submitted on time will be published. The deadline for paper submission is March 01st, 2013.
Layout of the paper: volume – up to 4 pages; font type - Times New Roman, font size 12 normal, line spacing – 1.5; A4 composition size.
The paper has to be preceded with the surname, first name, second name (patronymics) of the author(s) and a full title of the educational institution.
For the purpose of providing translation at forum workshops your Power Point presentations have to be submitted to the Organizing Committee by e-mail until April 01st, 2013.
Address of the National Mineral Resources University (Mining University): 2, 21st Line, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199106
Fax/Phone: +7 (812) 328-82-48
E-mail: forumspmi@yandex.ru
RECTOR, Professor, Vladimir S. Litvinenko
We are pleased to announce the 2013 IAP Seminar
"Analytics in Healthcare"
Date: Monday, January 28th
Time: 9:30am-3:00pm
Place: 32-123
Schedule:
9:30am - 10:00am - Intro and Continental Breakfast
10:00am - 11:00am - Retsef Levi from MIT
11:00am - 12:00pm - John D'Amore Founder and Partner of Clinfometrics Inc.
12:00pm - 1:00pm - Lunch
1:00pm - 2:00pm - Turgay Ayer from Georgia Tech
2:00pm - 3:00pm - Doctor Michael Howell and Doctor Daniel Talmor from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
For more information please see the seminar website: http://web.mit.edu/orc/www/seminars/iap.html
If you plan to attend please RSVP no later than 1/24/13 by sending an email to John Kessler (jkessler@mit.edu) so that we can ensure that there is enough food for all in attendance.
Student Coordinators: John Kessler, Maokai Lin, and Stephen Relyea
Faculty Coordinator: David Simchi-Levi
We look forward to seeing you!
Internal Competition for nominations to the 63rd Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany (June 30 – July 5, 2013)
The Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE) is accepting applications directly from students for the internal competition for nominations to the 2013 Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students (http://www.orau.org/lindau/default.html). Please note that this year’s meeting will focus on Chemistry and related disciplines.
Doctoral students in the department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, as well as those doing chemistry-related research in the following departments may apply:
- Biological Engineering
- Biology
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Health Sciences and Technology
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Nuclear Science and Engineering
- Physics
The program is administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for DOE and NSF.
There are 4 pathways for MIT nominations:
- Department of Energy (DOE): For students who meet the general eligibility criteria and who are sponsored by and/or working on a project, grant, or fellowship sponsored by the U.S. DOE Office of Science (DOE-SC).
- National Institutes of Health (NIH): For students who meet the general eligibility criteria and who are sponsored by and/or working on a project, grant, or fellowship sponsored by NCI, NIAAA, NIDCR, NIEHS, or NIGMS only.
- National Science Foundation (NSF): For students who meet the general eligibility criteria and who are sponsored by and/or working on a project, grant, or fellowship sponsored by National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical Science Division (NSF-MPS).
- Mars, Incorporated: For students who meet the general eligibility criteria regardless of funding source.
A university may use any or all pathways. However, only two nominations can be submitted for a given pathway from each university. MIT nominations must be submitted by the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education. The Institute deadline for submissions is December 14, 2012.
Eligibility - Applicants must:
- Be a U.S. citizen;
- Be currently enrolled as a full-time graduate student;
- Be actively involved in a research project. Each sponsor has different requirements. DOE-SC, NIH, and NSF-MPS require that your research and/or fellowship be funded by their specific offices. Mars, Inc. requires applicants to be an active researcher who is performing research funded by public or private sources; and
- Have completed by June 2013 at least two years of study toward a doctoral degree in Chemistry or in a related discipline, but not planning a dissertation/thesis defense before December 31, 2013.
Preliminary Internal Applications should consist of:
- One-page CV
- One-page letter of recommendation from thesis advisor
- Transcript including cumulative GPA (WebSIS report is acceptable)
- A one-page essay describing why participation in the Lindau meeting is important for the applicant’s graduate education
- A completed nomination form found at: http://www.orau.org/lindau/apply/nom-form.shtml
Internal MIT deadline: 5pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
All components of the preliminary application must be sent electronically to the ODGE, attention Jessica Landry (jlandry@mit.edu).
Meeting Details:
Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine convene annually in Lindau, Germany, to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers.
The 2013 meeting will be held June 30 – July 5, 2013and will focus on Chemistry. Meeting details are becoming available. A list of the Nobel Laureates who will attend the 62nd Meeting will be available at this site when the announcement is made.
The U.S. delegation consists of U.S. doctoral students whose current research at their universities is funded by one of the sponsoring agencies (DOE or NSF), Mars, Inc. who sponsors students under separate eligibility criteria or who attend an ORAU member institution. These students will travel to Lindau to participate in discussions with the Nobel Laureates, as well as other graduate students and junior researchers from around the world.
Transportation, lodging and registration expenses are arranged and paid for by the sponsoring agencies. Participants meet in Washington, D.C., for an orientation meeting and travel as a group to Germany. A student awardee will be committed to travel from June 26 or 27, 2013 until July 6 or 7, 2013. The final dates will be determined at a later date.
During the meeting, the Laureates lecture on the topics of their choice related to physics in the mornings and participate in less formal small group discussions with the students in the afternoons and some evenings. In addition to this valuable interaction, the participants enjoy the picturesque island city of Lindau, which is located at the eastern end of Lake Constance, just north of the Swiss Alps. Located at the common border of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the medieval city is rich in central European culture.
GSC Panel: Finding a Good Research Advisor
What: How to navigate finding a lab/advisor When: Monday Oct. 22, 5-6:30 PM Where: 32-124
· Are you looking for a research advisor? This panel discussion will help you make an educated decision about one of the most important choices in grad school
· Get an overview of what considerations should go into choosing a lab and the pros and cons of different advising styles
· Learn about how to make contact with PIs, negotiate issues of funding, projects, & coursework, and finally seal the deal
· Meet faculty with advising awards and hear their perspectives on these issues as well as what makes a student a good fit in their labs
Panelists include:
· Prof. Karen Willcox, Professor & Associate Department Head, MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Center for Computational Engineering
· Prof. Myron Spector, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery (Biomaterials), Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School and the VA Boston Healthcare System
· Prof. Karen Polenske, Professor of Regional Political Economy and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
Space is limited and refreshments will be served! Registration preferred.
Sponsor(s): GSC Academics, Research, and Careers
For more information, please contact: GSC Academics, Research, and Careers (gsc-arc@mit.edu)