MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2014 Activities by Category - Public Service and Community Outreach

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Big Data Hack and Visualization Contest

Mike Foster, GIS/Data Visualization Specialist

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

What can we learn from 2.3 million Taxi Rides? What can we do with mileage records from millions of vehicles? This is a hackathon themed session that introduces two major big data challenges occurring in the Boston area this winter, the MIT Big Data Challenge, and the MAPC Big Data Challenge. Come to be introduced to the challenges by the organizers, work on your visualization submission, and share knowledge, code, and visualization techniques with experts in the field and around MIT.  The first session is to introduce the challenges, download the data, and get started on your project. The second is provided to receive expert feedback and continue collaboration.  Bring your own laptop.

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Mike Foster, mjfoster@mit.edu


Session 1

Jan/09 Thu 01:00PM-03:00PM 9-450

Mike Foster - GIS/Data Visualization Specialist


Session 2

Jan/16 Thu 01:00PM-03:00PM 9-450

Mike Foster - GIS/Data Visualization Specialist


CityDay IAP - One Community Together in Community Service!

Kelsey Boivin, Community Engagement Administrator

Jan/29 Wed 09:00AM-05:00PM Various Locations, Times for each activity vary per organization

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/23
Limited to 120 participants
Prereq: None

We invite all members of the MIT Community to join us for the third annual IAP community service day, CityDay IAPThere are four locations and several times during the day in which you may volunteer. We hope these flexible options will allow you to schedule some volunteer time during your busy January:

  1. The Greater Boston Food Bank - Volunteers will be inspecting, sorting, and repacking donated grocery products to be distributed to hunger relief agencies (Half day service starting at noon and ending at 330pm).
  2. Cradles to Crayons - Volunteers will be sorting and packaging donations into "C2C KidPacks," which are individualized packages of essential children's items ordered for specific in-need kids (Service time noon to 3pm).
  3. The Charles River Conservancy - Volunteers will be helping to support. (Half Day service - meet on campus at 915am, with service from 10am-1pm).
  4. CASPAR - Volunteers will work either in the organization's shelter, or in some of the organization's residential homes in Cambridge/Somerville (Service times TBD).

 

Public transportation fees to/from the service placement will be provided on the service date. Please register by January 23rd!

Register here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SR5FE3Rgbjd-k72JOOJfqFrLuIKFefR5om9Pc_KbYm0/viewform)

Note: To participate, staff members need to gain permission from their supervisors to be released during normal work hours.

 

Sponsor(s): Public Service Center
Contact: Kelsey Boivin, W20, 617 253-8968, BOIVINK@MIT.EDU


The Ins and Outs of Development Review

Ezra Glenn, Lecturer

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/21
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This five-part series will introduce you to an aspect of urban planning that often gets ignored, but can have profound effects on the design and function of our neighborhoods and communities: development review.  Each day, we'll meet for a morning session exploring how city planners review, regulate, mitigate, modify, and ultimately approve or deny proposed projects.  Cases will be drawn from real-world examples, presented by practitioners who have worked in the field.

Feel free to come to any, or all, of the sessions. 

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, 617 253-2024, EGLENN@MIT.EDU


Overview; Zoning & Other Regulations

Jan/27 Mon 09:30AM-11:30AM 9-450A

Presents a overview of the process of development review, with special attention to the laws of Zoning and Subdivision Regulation.  Special guest: George Proakis, Planning Director, City of Somerville.


Reading a Plan

Jan/28 Tue 09:30AM-11:30AM 9-450A

Using draft and final documents from real-world zoning applications, we'll learn how planners read submitted plans for development and work with architects, engineers, and other experts to evaluate, clarify, and improve proposals.  Special guest: Ralph Willmer, FAICP, Senior Planner/Project Manager, VHB.


Managing the Public Process

Jan/29 Wed 09:30AM-11:30AM 9-450A

Planners do not review plans in isolation: development review is a public process. This session will cover the basics of public involvement, from requirements for notification through more creative tools and techniques to truly engage the neighborhood as active participants in the development process.  Special guest: Angus Jennings, principal, Angus Jennings LLC; former Director of Land Use Management, Town of Westford.


Impacts, Mitigation, and Exactions

Jan/30 Thu 09:30AM-11:30AM 9-450A

Development review is not simply about saying "Yea" or "Nay."  In reviewing plans for proposed development, planners tweak, modify, and at times radically alter projects to meet public objectives and avoid negative impacts.  This session will present and explore the wide range of tools planners use to ensure projects will improve -- and not harm -- existing communities.  Special guest: Nick Marantz, DUSP PhD student.


Role Play Simulation

Jan/31 Fri 09:30AM-11:30AM 9-450A

The final session of the Development Review series will feature an interactive session facilitated by DUSP PhD student Todd Schenk, exploring how the different aspects of development review come together in practice, as participants take on different roles around a simulated proposal.


The Royal Society for Arts

Alexandra Krawiec, RSA connector and fellow

Jan/30 Thu 12:30PM-02:00PM 66-156

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

With the headquarters in London - outreach to the world.

A meeting with the RSA Fellow and the Polish RSA Connector sharing her experience and presenting the background of the RSA with the headquarters in London. What is it and how it works. What can you learn from it. 

 

http://www.thersa.org/

Sponsor(s): SpousesandPartners@mit
Contact: Alexandra Krawiec, al.krawiec@gmail.com


Writing Personal Statements and Proposals That Work

Alison Hynd

Jan/28 Tue 02:00PM-03:30PM 8-119

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required

 

Are you applying for grad school? Considering a Distinguished Fellowship? Seeking funding for your summer project?

Come and learn the nuts and bolts of writing successful personal statements and proposals.

Staff from Global Education and the Public Service Center will share their tips as frequent proposal readers and writers. Students who've written successful proposals will share what worked for them!

 

Presented by:

Kimberly Benard, Global Education Office

Alison Hynd, Public Service Center

 

RSVP to hynd@mit.edu

 

Sponsor(s): Public Service Center, Global Education and Career Development
Contact: Alison Hynd, hynd@mit.edu