Harvard Society of Scientists Blog

Beyond:

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Monday, February 22 2010, 6:00 PM
JFK Jr. Forum, Harvard

Secretary Paulson sat at the helm of the US Treasury from 2006-2009 and witnessed the US economy go from boom to bust. This will be a fascinating address.

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Events-Meetings/JFK-Jr.-Forum-Calendar/FORUM-A-public-address-by-The-Honorable-Henry-Paulson

Ticketed Forum: Valerie Jarett, Advisor to the President
Friday, February 19 2010, 5:00 PM
JFK Jr. Forum, Harvard

The New York Times Magazine described Valerie Jarett as the “ultimate Obama insider” and featured her prominently on the front cover of a recent summer issue.  Jarett is a long-time friend and mentor of the Obamas and she is widely believed to hold the ear and attention of the president.  It will be especially interesting to hear her views on Obama’s presidency in the face of new challenges to his  health care and economic agenda.  For more information about Valerie Jarett see the New York Times article:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26jarrett-t.html

Enter Lottery for Tickets by Wed Feb 17
http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Events-Meetings/JFK-Jr.-Forum-Calendar/TICKETED-FORUM-A-conversation-with-Valerie-Jarrett

MIT Grad Student Council Legislative Action Kick-Off Meeting
Thursday, Feb 4, 6-7P
50-220 (Walker Memorial) MIT

MIT’s Grad Student Council (GSC) Legislative Action represents graduate student interests in Washington DC. They work with the National Assoc. of Graduate-Professional Students to lobby the government for issues including creating a federal tax-exempt status for stipends, removing the H-1B visa quota for advanced-degree holders, and promoting open access to federally-funded research. Members will get to meet with members of Congress and government officials.

Read about their last trip at: http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N54/GSCwashington.html

Contact:  GSC Legislative Action Subcommittee (gsc-lasc@mit.edu)with any questions.

Paul Farmer on Harvard and Haiti: A collaborative response to the January 12 earthquake
Thursday, February 11, Noon – 1:00 pm
Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Harvard Med School

Professor Paul Farmer and Dean of Harvard Med School Jeffrey Flier will provide an update on the situation in Haiti and discuss Harvard’s role in the recovery and reconstruction. Dr Farmer is founder of Partners in Health, a celebrated international community health organization. His work is the subject of the best-selling book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. Dr. Farmer is a rousing speaker and not afraid to criticize his colleagues in academia and the NGO world.

http://hms.harvard.edu/public/haiti/

Deans Conversation: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis
Thursday, February 11th, 4:15p
Science Center Hall E, Harvard University

Four Harvard heavyweights weigh in on the topic of our times: the
global financial meltdown.  Chair of Economics John Y. Campbell,
Professors of Economics Jeremy C. Stein and Kenneth Rogoff, and
History Professor Niall Ferguson will all partake.

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=socialsciencedivision

An evening with Ambassador Nicholas Burns
Dudley Common Room
Monday, February 1st, 2010
5:30pm Reception, 6pm Dinner
Ambassador Nicholas Burn was the State Department’s third ranking
official under the Bush Administration and is now a professor at the
Kennedy School. Ambassador Burns is a career diplomat who held many
high profile roles as Ambassador to NATO, Ambassador to Greece and
lead nuclear negotiator with Iran. He also was a key architect of the
Bush Administration’s controversial US-India Nuclear deal which broke
international precedent by providing key nuclear material and
assistance to a non-NPT treaty member.

Contact Sahand Hormoz (hormoz@fas.harvard.edu) for more information.

Resource of the Week:
Secrecy News
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists keeps an
outstanding blog on US government secrecy.  He posts recently
declassified documents, he covers changes in government classification
policy, and comments on the use and abuse of secrecy. He is an expert
on the Freedom of Information Act and on the dissemination and
preservation of declassified materials. His work touches on history,
international security, government science research and everything in
between.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

The Nonproliferation Paradox: Why Efforts to Limit the Number of Nuclear States May Backfire.

February 4, 2010, 12:15-2:00 p.m

Location: Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, Harvard Kennedy School

President Obama has brought nuclear non-proliferation back into the
national conscious with a forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review and a
renewed effort at arms reductions with Russia. This talk will take a
historical look at how non-proliferation efforts failed in the case of
India during the 1970s.

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/4244/nonproliferation_paradox.html

Bioenergy, Biodiversity, Food and Global Change Mitigation – Can we have it all?

February 4, 2010, 5:00pm

Location: Biolabs Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Ave

In 2007 the UC Berkeley / University of Illinois Energy Bioscience
Institute received half a billion dollars over 10 years from oil giant
BP to develop renewable biofuels. Stephen Long is Deputy Director of
the Institute and will be talking about progress towards creating and
adopting environmentally friendly alternative bioenergy.

http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/2010-02-04/biodiversity-ecology-and-global-change

MIT Energy Seminar: “Why is Modernizing Our Energy Technologies is So Darn Hard But Worth the Effort?

February 2, 2010, 4:15pm

Location: MIT 66-110, Landau Building, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA

Consultant Susan Tierny of Analysis Group in Boston asks, why is it so
hard to put new energy technology into place when so much work is
already underway to develop these technologies?

http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/2010-02-02/mit-energy-seminar