"Theory" and its Quotation Marks
Lilia Kilburn, Katie Arthur
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
The aim of this course is to provide an opportunity to explore (and a community with which to do so) the longstanding dialogue in the humanities commonly known as "theory," using inroads offered by certain modifiers (queer theory, feminist theory, media theory, critical race theory, affect theory and so forth). "Theory" is a word to which some people express an allergic reaction, but we posit that the transformative potential of many of these theoretical writings, and the power of the critiques they render, make them worth the occasional difficulty.
Everyone is welcome, with or without any background or experience in theory or literature! We will provide short readings for each session, and we recommend that you commit to the full program, however, you may also attend individual sessions.
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Contact: Lilia Kilburn, liliak@mit.edu
| Jan/19 | Tue | 03:00PM-06:00PM | 14N-112 |
Beginning with Freud and with Deleuze and Guattari's 'Anti-Oedipus,' continuing through Hocquenghem and Butler, and resting on some contemporary feminist and trans writings, this session will offer a primer on queer theory and the recent history of theorizing desire.
| Jan/21 | Thu | 05:00PM-08:00PM | 14N-112 |
Beginning with an examination of Foucault's famous analysis of Bentham's Panopticon, one which will use Jeremy Bentham's letters to foreground that which tends to fall out of contemporary accounts of the Panopticon, this session will then shift to Foucault's Archaeology of Knowledge and to recent selections in media archaeology.
| Jan/29 | Fri | 05:30PM-08:30PM | E15 3rd floor screen |
To cap off IAP, come watch Vertigo! We'll be gathering around the big screen on the third floor of the Media Lab to watch Hitchcock's 1958 masterpiece. We'll distribute a primer of ways to read the film, and those interested can stick around for a short discussion.
A Look Inside the Human Brain using Modern Imaging Technologies
Dimitrios Pantazis, Director of MEG Lab
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Modern imaging technologies at MIT and MGH provide exciting new ways to understand the structure and function of the human brain. We will provide guided tours of our imaging facilities and show how we use these tools to look inside the brain. Our recently installed MEG system, capable of measuring magnetic fields a billionth of the magnetic field of earth, can record the simultaneous firing of thousands of cortical neurons as they form dynamic networks. Our MRI scanners provide high resolution images of the human brain as subjects perform a wide range of perceptual and cognitive tasks. Our PET scanners can identify and localize specific molecules in the brain, revealing pathologies that may underlie many different brain disorders. TMS is a noninvasive method that uses electromagnetic induction to create weak electric currents and cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain. NIRS uses infrared light to illuminate tissue and infer brain activity through the diffusion and scattering of this light. tCS is a neurostimulation technique that uses low current delivered to the brain using electrodes on the scalp. We will introduce these technologies, offer lab tours and demonstrate data collection, and discuss their contribution to neuroscience.
Contact: Dimitrios Pantazis, 46-5147, 617 324-6292, PANTAZIS@MIT.EDU
| Jan/20 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:00PM | MIT bldg46, rm3015 |
Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) instrumentation, principles of light scattering and absorption, imaging of oxygenated hemoglobin, NIRS applications.
Juliette Selb - Instructor
| Jan/20 | Wed | 03:00PM-04:30PM | MIT bldg46, rm3015 |
Topics include MRI instrumentation, magnetic fields, safety, functional imaging with BOLD response, diffusion imaging, and others.
Anastasia Yendiki - Assistant Professor, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist
| Jan/20 | Wed | 04:30PM-05:30PM | MIT bldg46, rm1171 |
A tour at the MRI lab. Demo scan (finger tapping) and data analysis.
MRI Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/martinos-imaging-center/technical-resources
Steven P Shannon - Operations Manager and MR Research Technologist, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper - MR Programmer, Atsushi Takahashi - Assistant Director, MR Physicist
| Jan/21 | Thu | 02:00PM-03:00PM | MIT bldg46, rm3015 |
Seminar on Positron Emission Technology. Introduction to PET technology and scanners at MGH; applications in tumor detection; brain metabolic activity; gene expression; neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer¿s and Parkinson's; pharmacology etc.
Quanzheng Li - Assistant Professor
| Jan/21 | Thu | 03:00PM-04:00PM | MIT bldg46, rm3015 |
Electrophysiological basis of MEG signals; instrumentation; modeling; cortical rhythms; brain networks; combining MEG with fMRI, studying the human visual system.
Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab
| Jan/21 | Thu | 04:00PM-05:00PM | MIT bldg46, rm1147 |
A tour at the MEG Lab, demo scan and data analysis of an MEG experiment
MEG Lab: http://mcgovern.mit.edu/technology/meg-lab
Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab, Yasaman Bagherzadeh - Postdoctoral Affiliate
| Jan/22 | Fri | 03:00PM-05:00PM | MGH CNY 149 - A, Location in Charlestown! |
Use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to depolarize and hyperpolarize neurons of the brain, applications to treat depression and examine basic mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, among others. The seminar will include a demo of the MGH TMS system!
Aapo Nummenmaa - Instructor
| Jan/22 | Fri | Time TBD | Seminar Cancelled |
Introduction on transcranial current stimulation. Differences and applications of direct- and alternating-current stimulation (tDCS and tACS), instrumentation, modulation of ongoing rhythmic brain activity.
Dimitrios Pantazis - Director of MEG Lab
Excelling at MIT and beyond: Developing a "Growth Mindset"
Lourdes Aleman, Research Scientist
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: None
Many students arrive at MIT riding on years of academic success and praise from teachers, parents, and colleagues. But what happens when you encounter uncertainty and failure? Have you been in a challenging class where you worry about how others will perceive you if don't sound "smart" enough? When you fail to achieve a specific goal, how do you manage and overcome discouragement and self-doubt? In this course, we will examine how our own notions of potential and ability can have a fundamental impact how we approach our work, how much we learn, and how successful we can be in achieving our goals. The course will focus on recent, evidence-based insights regarding human performance, neuroplastictiy, motivation and on how deliberately cultivating a "growth-mindset" can improve our willingness and ability to face challenges and to innovate, despite the risk of failure.
This course is limited to 20 students. Please send a brief description of who you are and why you would like to take this course to Lourdes Alemán at laleman@mit.edu. You will be notified via e-mail to confirm registration. Registration is opened until 1/8.
Sponsor(s): Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, Biology
Contact: Lourdes Aleman, 617 715-5348, LALEMAN@MIT.EDU
| Jan/12 | Tue | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 8-205 |
How people learn, neurosplasticity, struggling and how it relates to learning.
Lourdes Aleman - Research Scientist
| Jan/15 | Fri | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 8-205 |
The relationship between different types of mindset, learning and achievement.
Lourdes Aleman - Research Scientist
| Jan/19 | Tue | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 8-205 |
Learning to embrace challenges and learning from them: cultivating a growth mindset.
Lourdes Aleman - Research Scientist
| Jan/22 | Fri | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 8-205 |
Using deliberate practice to improve learning and achievement.
Lourdes Aleman - Research Scientist
Introduction to Probabilistic Programming and Data Analysis
Vikash Mansinghka, Research Scientist
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Familiarity with Python
Probabilistic inference is a widely-used, mathematically rigorous approach for interpreting ambiguous information using models that are uncertain and/or incomplete. It has become central to multiple fields, from big data analytics to robotics and AI to computational modeling of the mind and brain. However, it currently requires deep technical expertise to use. Models and inference algorithms are difficult to communicate, design, implement, validate, and optimize, and inference often appears to be fundamentally intractable. The emerging field of probabilistic programming aims to make modeling and inference broadly accessible to non-experts, especially to facilitate data analysis, and to enable experts to tackle problems that are currently infeasible, especially in machine intelligence.
This class offers an introduction to probabilistic programming, emphasizing applications to Bayesian data analysis. The course will provide hands-on experience with the Venture and BayesDB platforms. Students will learn how to use probabilistic programming for data exploration, cleaning, confirmatory analysis, and predictive modeling. Students will also be exposed to techniques for writing custom models and inference programs that are suitable for more complex problems.
(Students should be familiar with basic programming and statistical concepts. Familiarity with Python is required)
Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Contact: Rax Dillon, N/A, N/A, rax@mit.edu
| Jan/05 | Tue | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-3015 |
| Jan/07 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-3015 |
| Jan/19 | Tue | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-3015 |
| Jan/26 | Tue | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-3015 |
Vikash Mansinghka - Research Scientist
| Jan/12 | Tue | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-1015 |
| Jan/14 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-1015 |
| Jan/21 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-1015 |
| Jan/28 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | 46-1015 |
Vikash Mansinghka - Research Scientist
Making Sense of Scent
Andreas Mershin, Research Scientist
| Jan/27 | Wed | 01:00PM-04:00PM | E14-633, don't wear a lot of perfume/cologne/aftershave |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/25
Limited to 100 participants
Prereq: none
In 1914, Alexander Graham Bell said: "If you are ambitious to find a new science, measure a smell".
This activity is designed to give you the knowledge and practical experience necessary to understand why it's 2016 and we still haven't "measured a smell" and why it's more important than ever to do so.
During the lecture part of this activity you will learn how biological and machine noses work. We will cover emerging applications ranging from diagnostics to drug discovery and how new experimental methods are challenging old theoretical models of olfaction.
You will be equipped to critically dissect ongoing scientific controversies such as: "humans can discriminate over one trillion/no more than 5000 odors", "shape or vibration?", "analytical or synthetic?", "chemical or spectral?", "combinatorial or emergent?", "classical or quantum?".
During the practical session you will be trained on methods to enhance your olfactory intelligence while participating in a blindfolded perfume discrimination exercise. Most perfume novices will be surprised to discover how sensitive their noses become. Perfume aficionados may actually be able to beat a GC-MS. Anosmics please join us as controls! (we'll teach you fun tricks to confuse Sommeliers or how to cause olfactory hallucinations).
By the end of the course you will be able to answer Shakespeare's own question better than he did:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
Contact: Andreas Mershin, E15-401G, 617 515-4192, MERSHIN@MIT.EDU
MITing of the Minds 2016
Allison Balin, Philosophy Graduate Student
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: none
This year’s MITing of the Minds is the Twelfth Annual MIT Philosophy Alumni Conference. The conference will showcase recent work in a variety of areas of contemporary philosophy. Presentations will cover topics in epistemology, ethics, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, and will be accessible to a broad audience
Sponsor(s): Linguistics and Philosophy
Contact: Christine Graham, 32-D808, 617 253-4653, CGRAHAM@MIT.EDU
| Jan/21 | Thu | 10:30AM-06:00PM | 32-D461 |
| Jan/22 | Fri | 09:30AM-04:00PM | 32-D461 |
Please see website for details: http://web.mit.edu/philosophy/mm/
Neuropsychiatry in Translation: The Next Generation
Maria Dauvermann, Postdoctoral Associate
Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: None
It has been estimated that 18.5% of adults in the U.S. had a psychiatric disorder in 2013. The treatment success rates with traditional pharmacology among every psychiatric disorder are very low. This goes hand-in-hand with the limitations of currently available diagnostic and prognostic tools.
We know that the brain plays a major role in the development of these disorders. Therefore, technologies for potential diagnosis and treatment options have been developed that aim to change the function of the brain. These new technologies for diagnosis and invention approaches are in development but require thorough translational research before they can be safely used in patients.
The aim of the course is to teach about technologies and intervention approaches that move beyond pharmacology as the sole treatment option. Over the course of four sessions, you will learn how brain scientists from different disciplines (biologists, chemists, physicists, psychologists, informaticians, engineers) invent and develop techniques in multiple translational steps as diagnosis and treatment options for patients. You will design and present your own translational study at the end of the course.
Session 1: Currently available techniques and treatment options
Session 2: Promising technologies for diagnosis and treatment options in humans, monkeys and rodents
Session 3: Practical translational research steps across species
Session 4: Design, presentation and discussion of translational studies
Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Contact: Maria Dauvermann, 46-2171, 617-324-3599, mariad@mit.edu
| Jan/07 | Thu | 01:00PM-03:00PM | 46-4062 |
| Jan/08 | Fri | 01:00PM-03:00PM | 46-4062 |
| Jan/14 | Thu | 01:00PM-03:00PM | 46-4062 |
| Jan/15 | Fri | 01:00PM-03:00PM | 46-4062 |
Maria Dauvermann - Postdoctoral Associate
Planners Read The Gorgias
Ezra Glenn
| Jan/12 | Tue | 01:30PM-04:00PM | 7-338, books provided |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/05
What is the role of oratory and power in a democratic society? Is it worse to do wrong or to be wronged? What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? Why is it important for both the accused and their judges to meet naked in court? (And what do all of these questions have to do with becoming an urban planner?) Come explore these themes with us in a participatory -- possibly dramatic -- reading of Plato's "Gorgias," a Socratic dialog written in 380 BC that is as relevant today as when it was written. Books provided; Greek food included; togas optional.
Note: this is mostly an opportunity to actually read this wonderful and thought-provoking book with others, not a lecture; come prepared to read and take part, and we'll see how far we get.
Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Ezra Glenn, 7-337, x3-2024, eglenn@mit.edu
Reasoning for God and Dinner
chris swanosn
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
A 6 part lecture and discussion series addressing some of the top questions and objections to belief in God and the Christian faith. Bring your questions and look forward to good discussion and authentic answers. Free dinner too!
Each session we will begin with eating dinner together, followed by a 30 minute presentation on the topic of the night. After the presentation, there will be time for discussion and Q & A.
Topics inlcude things like: "Reasons for the Existence of God", "Why does a loving God allow Evil and Suffering", "Is God Neccessary to decide what is moral?", "Are there moral absolutes?" , "Is there only one true religion?"
Sponsor(s): Campus Crusade for Christ, Baptist Student Fellowship
Contact: Chris Swanson, 515-451-9542, CSWANSON@MIT.EDU
| Jan/12 | Tue | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd floor |
chris swanosn
| Jan/14 | Thu | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd Floor |
chris swanosn
| Jan/19 | Tue | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd Floor |
chris swanosn
| Jan/21 | Thu | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd Floor |
chris swanosn
| Jan/26 | Tue | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd Floor |
chris swanosn
| Jan/28 | Thu | 06:00PM-07:30PM | Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge, 3rd Floor |
chris swanosn
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