IAP Independent Activities Period
overview participate organize offerings calendar  
for-credit subjects non-credit activities by category non-credit activities by sponsor non-credit activities by date

IAP 2012 Activities by Sponsor

Science, Technology, and Society

Cool Shorts: Climate Change on Web Video
Chris Boebel, Eli Kintisch, Patrick Wellever
Tue Jan 17, 10am-01:00pm, E53-354
Thu Jan 19, 10am-12:00pm, E53-354
Tue Jan 24, 10am-01:00pm, E53-354
Thu Jan 26, 10am-12:00pm, E53-354

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 17-Jan-2012
Limited to 10 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Prereq: None

This class, cosponsored by Knight Science Journalism at MIT, focuses on the production of several short videos about climate change, meant for web distribution. The goal will be to explore, visualize or enliven topics around climate science with visual/dramatic originality, surprise, suspense or humor. Reaching a broad audience is the intent.

We will study the evolving form of the online video short, especially those meant to explore an idea or scientific concept. Students will also be given a brief primer on fundamental climate science principles. Then they will propose, film and cut two videos, each no longer than 1:30, and post them online. Students will learn important tips on making web videos, some basic climate science, and have a chance to hone their video-making skills.

Students who are beginners or advanced filmmakers are welcome. Students are encouraged to use their own equipment for videomaking – anything from consumer cameras to DSLR’s, or even cellphones. HD cameras will also be available for students who do not have access to their own tools.
Contact: Eli Kintisch, W1-5067, x4-4975, elikint@mit.edu
Cosponsor: Anthropology

Designing Your Life
David Mindell, Gabriella Jordan
Mon Jan 30, Wed Feb 1, Fri Feb 3, 01:30-04:30pm, E51-345

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 20-Jan-2012
Limited to 65 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)

This course (formerly called "Living an Extraordinary Life") provides an exciting, eye-opening, and thoroughly useful inquiry into what it takes to live an extraordinary life, on your own terms. This course addresses what it takes to succeed, and to be proud of your life and happy in it. You will tackle career satisfaction, money, your body, vices, your relationship to yourself. Address your own life and how you live it and learn from it. An inquisitive nature and willingness to face the truth are required.
Web: http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/311-span-classhighlightlivingspan-span-classhighlightanspan-span-classhighlightextraordinaryspan-lifemit
Contact: Nicole Ryan, (724) 301-4846, nsuhrie@mit.edu

Dine Like Darwin
Rebecca Woods, Myrna Perez
Tue Jan 24, 02-07:00pm, E51-095

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 16-Jan-2012
Limited to 15 participants.
Single session event

Have you ever wondered about Charles Darwin's daily life? Everyone is familiar with him as a revolutionary thinker, but just like everyone else, he needed to eat! And for Darwin, a famous invalid who suffered from numerous digestive complaints all his life, diet was a highly significant aspect of his wellbeing, and his ability to work. In this single session activity, we'll explore this other side of Darwin—his domestic life and his digestion. Over the course of an afternoon, we will read and discuss a selection of Darwin's correspondence—letters he wrote and received, and letters exchanged among his family members—that shed light on what he was like as a father, husband, and invalid. We will recreate some of the very food that Darwin ate, using authentic recipes from his wife Emma's cookbook—delicious menu items like chicken curry, potato rissoles, and gingerbread made with treacle. Come learn about Victorian science, cookery, and the domestic life of one of the greatest figures in the history of modern science. Be prepared to have fun and get messy cooking à la the 1860s!
Co-sponsored by the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Web: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/
Contact: Rebecca Woods, E51-098, (802) 881-7653, rjwoods@mit.edu

Energy, the Media and You: Behind the scenes with top science reporters
Eli Kintisch, Alister Doyle, Hepeng Jia, Joyce Murdoch
Tue Jan 31, 04-05:30pm, 4-237

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 27-Jan-2012
Limited to 60 participants.
Single session event

Public discourse on energy topics from nuclear technology to climate impacts to biofuels is often characterized by tall claims, exaggerated risks, biased coverage and impenetrable legalese. The MIT Energy Initiative and Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program convene ~5 reporters to tell the behind-the-scenes story on how energy stories get told -- and spun. Join an experienced and talented panel of journalists from across the media spectrum for an inside look at the forces that shape media on energy and practical insights on how scientists can improve the way that their research is conveyed to a public that is under daily information bombardment.
Co-Sponsored by the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships

\*Registration required.\*
Register at: http://bit.ly/zqkY9X
Contact: Jennifer DiMase, jdimase@mit.edu
Cosponsor: MIT Energy Initiative


MIT  
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Home | Overview | Participate | Organize | Offerings | Calendar | Search
Comments and questions to: iap-www@mit.edu Academic Resource Center, Room 7-104, 617-253-1668
Last update: 7 Sept. 2011