Past Events
February 17, 2010
Speaker: Chris Mooney is a 2009-2010 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, and Senior Correspondent, The American Prospect Magazine. He is the author of three books including the recently published Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future, co-authored by Sheril Kirshenbaum; also The Republican War on Science, as well as Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming.
February 17, 2010
Speaker: David McGee, Columbia University. Abstract: During glacial periods of the Late Quaternary, mineral dust emissions from Earth's dominant source areas were a factor of two to four higher than interglacial levels. The causes of these fluctuations are poorly understood, limiting interpretation of dust flux records and assessment of dust's role in past climate changes.
February 05, 2010
Panelists: William Bonvillian (MIT), Michael Greenstone (MIT), Henry Jacoby (MIT), Rob Stavins (Harvard), Edward Steinfeld (MIT); moderator: Ernest Moniz (MIT). At this town-hall meeting-style policy-focused program, panelists will discuss the issues and aftermath of the December, 2009 Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, and next steps. Topics include: The importance of China, congressional politics, institutional issues going forward, the U.S. path forward, and the economic and climate implications of the Copenhagen Accord.
February 02, 2010
Speaker: Susan Tierney, Managing Principal, Analysis Group. Abstract: So much work is underway to advance energy technologies to make them more efficient, have a lower carbon footprint, more accessible to communities, and so forth. And yet, it is so hard to put new energy technologies into place in domestic (and many international) markets. Why is that?
January 25, 2010
This IAP course (for credit) will meet for 5 sessions (Jan 25-29, 2-5pm). Oil and natural gas provide approximately two-thirds of primary energy today, and will continue to be major sources of energy for several decades. The course will introduce today’s energy systems and the state of the art geoscience and engineering approaches necessary to meet current demand. Participants will work in teams, to design and present plans for the development of a multi-billion dollar natural gas project with the potential to supply energy for over three million households.
January 22, 2010
Speaker: Prof. Tomás Gómez Institute for Research in Technology, Comillas University, Madrid, Spain Abstract: Distribution networks are becoming very different from what they used to be. The increasing presence of diverse types of distributed generation, the anticipated strong penetration of plug-in electric vehicles and the use of advanced schemes of interaction with the end consumers are creating new needs for design operation and regulation of the distribution activity.