IAP 2017 Activities by Category - Engineering

Donald Galler, Research Engineer

Jan/24	Tue	09:00AM-05:00PM	4-141, 1 hour break for lunch
Jan/25	Wed	09:00AM-05:00PM	4-141, 1 hour break for lunch
Jan/26	Thu	09:00AM-05:00PM	4-141, 1 hour break for lunch

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/10
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session
Prereq: None

This class is an introduction to the basic operation of a scanning electron microscope. The basic operating principles will be covered. Attendees will be trained on the use of the microscope.

The microscope is a new JEOL 6610 LV scanning electron microscope (SEM) with several advanced features:

• low pressure operation for examining non-conductive samples
• computer controlled positioning stage
• energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) system for elemental analysis
• deformation stage for mechanical testing of samples while in the SEM

 

This is a training class but anyone interested in these modern research tools is welcome to attend.

Attendees are encouraged to bring samples for exploration and will operate the microscope as part of the class.

 

Enrollment limited: Advance sign up required (contact leader by email). 8 people per session.  First come, first serve basis.

Sponsor(s): Materials Science and Engineering
Contact: Donald Galler, 4-131BA, 617-253-4554, dgaller@mit.edu

Thomas Cooper, Posdoctoral Fellow

Jan/23	Mon	01:00PM-04:00PM	1-246
Jan/27	Fri	01:00PM-04:00PM	1-246
Jan/30	Mon	01:00PM-04:00PM	1-246
Feb/03	Fri	01:00PM-04:00PM	1-246

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Please bring a laptop; knowledge of Solidworks is an asset

An Introduction to Nonimaging Optics

Build your own solar concentrator! In this short interactive course, the subject of nonimaging optics will be introduced, with a focus on its application to solar energy collection. The course will consist of four sessions, each comprising a one-hour lecture, followed by a two-hour hands-on tutorial session where participants will 3D print their own solar concentrator prototype! On the last session, the solar concentrators will be tested to reveal who achieved the best concentrator design!

ENROLL HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/rOZrMTEv27UEArO73

Session 1: Fundamentals of nonimaging optics

What is nonimaging optics?
Conservation of étendue
The edge-ray principle
Thermodynamics of solar concentration
PROJECT: Problem statement and preliminary optical design

Session 2: Solar concentrator design

Nonparabolic solar concentrators
Nonimaging secondary concentrators with imaging primaries
Design of secondaries: the CPC, CEC, trumpet, tailored edge-ray concentrator
Aplanatic optics
PROJECT: Preliminary optical design due

Session 3: Non-tracking solar concentrators

Maximum concentration for one- and two-axis trackers
Source/acceptance map matching
Maximum concentration for non-tracking solar concentrators
Design of non-tracking solar concentrators
PROJECT: Ray-tracing simulation; preparation of 3D printed prototype

Session 4: Performance assessment

Solar concentrator modeling and testing
PROJECT: Live testing of solar concentrator prototypes

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Thomas Cooper, 7-006, 617 253-7488, COOPERT@MIT.EDU

Brian Nield (Boeing Commercial Airplane)

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/06
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: Spreadsheet Skills (Excel); Some Familiarity with Aviation

Commercial aviation is extremely safe, in part due to knowledge gained from studying accidents. The investigation process and some of the most significant accidents are discussed. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to work with their peers in a small, self-directed, investigative team to solve a realistic (but fictional) aircraft accident mystery. New information on the crash will be given out at each session as you piece together the facts to determine what caused the accident and build recommendations for improving flying safety.

Sponsor(s): Aeronautics and Astronautics
Contact: Liz Zotos, 37-219, x3-7805, zotos@mit.edu

---

Aviation Accident Investigation

Jan/10	Tue	02:00PM-03:00PM	Room 33-319
Jan/11	Wed	02:00PM-03:00PM	Room 33-319
Jan/12	Thu	02:00PM-04:00PM	Room 33-319

See main description

Brian Nield (Boeing Commercial Airplane)

Coby Unger, Associate Instructor

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/04
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Hobby Shop term Membership
Fee: $85.00 for Deck materials

Over the course of this class we will use the CNC router, laser, vacuum bag and manually operated woodworking tools. No prior woodworking experience is necessary. We will first cover mold design in Fusion 360 and operation of the CNC router to cut a lamination mold for a total of two board designs chosen by the class participants. The vacuum bag is used to glue laminate thin veneer layers together and create the curved deck blank. 
The laser cutter will be used for to make a decorative wood veneer top or bottom of your design. 

Sponsor(s): Hobby Shop
Contact: Coby Unger, W31-031, 617 253 4343, cobyu@mit.edu

---

Build your own Skateboard or Long board

Jan/09	Mon	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Jan/13	Fri	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Jan/20	Fri	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Jan/23	Mon	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Jan/27	Fri	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Jan/30	Mon	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031
Feb/03	Fri	02:00PM-05:00PM	W31-031

If you have any question, please email Coby at: cobyu@mit.edu

Coby Unger - Associate Instructor

Mian Qin

Jan/17

Tue

09:00AM-04:00PM

66-110

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required

Learn multiphysics simulation with COMSOL experts. These lectures are suitable for anyone with an engineering, physics, or science background, who is interested in developing or using COMSOL models and apps. No previous COMSOL experience necessary.

 * To receive the trial version before this lecture, please confirm your attendance at:

https://www.comsol.com/events/workshop/15241

Schedule overview:

9-10:30am 1. Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics and Application Builder (Dr. Peter Lyu)
BREAK
10:45-12:00 2. Chemical Engienering (Dr. Peter Lyu)
BREAK
1:00-2:00 3. Heat Transfer (Dr. Peter Lyu)
BREAK
2:15-3:45 Structural Mechanics (Dr. Temesgen Kindo)
Q&A

 

 

Sponsor(s): Chemical Engineering
Contact: Adrienne Bruno, 66-350, 617 253-4562, BRUNOA@MIT.EDU

Viet-Anh D. Nguyen, 2011 MEng

Jan/10	Tue	10:00AM-11:30AM	56-167
Jan/11	Wed	10:00AM-11:30AM	56-167

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: No former design knowledge; basic web programming covered

Learn design fundamentals for engineering using one of the most prominent interface design languages, called Material Design, developed in 2014 by Google (Learn more at https://material.google.com/, https://material.io/  

Learn to 

Apply information hierarchy to make any document or proposal more compelling

Convey any message effectively to people amidst noises and distractions.

Be able to identify bad interfaces for users.

Look at any website and app, and can break down into common components.

Take advantage of thoughtful Material Design components in your website and app.

Bring laptop.

Sponsor(s): Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Viet-Anh D. Nguyen, vietanh@bettergui.com

Joseph Okor, Engineer

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: None

If you are into building things, these are the best of times. We now have low cost, and easily accessible technologies such as 3D Printing, 3D Scanning, Laser Cutting, Desktop 3D CNC, etc. The "glue" that binds everything together and makes everything exciting is Electronics. Electronics hardware has gotten so cheap that you can now buy a computer the size of half a credit card that can run a full Linux Operating System and thus capable of running most of your Desktop Applications, and cost as little as $5 (Raspberry Pi Zero). These technological advances are not been used by the "average" maker because of how the "average" maker interacts with electronics. In this class, you will learn the skills needed to take advantage of this revolution for fun and/or profit.

WEB;http://iap2017.xfunbotix.com/

Contact: Joseph Okor, jkokor@alum.mit.edu

---

Jan/31	Tue	04:00PM-06:00PM	2-136
Feb/01	Wed	04:00PM-06:00PM	2-136
Feb/02	Thu	04:00PM-06:00PM	2-136
Feb/03	Fri	04:00PM-06:00PM	2-136

Joseph Okor - Engineer

Tom Kinnare '86

Jan/18

Wed

07:00PM-10:00PM

32-124

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is an important language for controlling part shape and fit.  It is widely used in many industries, but many engineering graduates are not exposed to it.  This three hour session will briefly introduce the ASME Y14.5 spec that defines GD&T for American usage.  We will touch on datums, unstated rules, and the main categories of tolerance.  Special attention will be paid to flatness and true position to illustrate general principles.  Additional sources for more information will be recommended.

Register Today!

Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU

Hong Weng Sio, Graduate Student

Jan/13

Fri

11:00AM-12:00PM

NW17-218

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

This overview of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High-Energy-Density (HED) science, highlights MIT’s High-Energy-Density Division work at two major US ICF facilities: Omega and the NIF. MIT’s work at these facilities is based on design and implementation of novel diagnostics, platforms, and analyses, developed at the PSFC accelerator facility.

Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, 617 253-8101, RIVENBERG@PSFC.MIT.EDU

Tim McClure

Jan/31

Tue

10:00AM-02:00PM

13-2137

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/27

The Center for Materials Science and Engineering's Analysis Shared Experimental Facility has an Extended range FT-IR & Microscope with a variety of sampling accessories that are available for the use of researchers. Come find out about the many sampling options now available for FT-IR.

Sponsor(s): Center for Materials Science and Engineering
Contact: Tim McClure, 13-4149, x8-6470, mtim@mit.edu

Warren Hsing, Program Director High Energy Density S&T NIF

Jan/13

Fri

02:00PM-03:00PM

NW17-218

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

NIF is the most energetic laser in the world, allowing access to high energy densities ranging from Mbars in solid state to Gbars in implosions.  This enables the study of relevant physics spanning planetary cores, inertial confinement fusion, and supernovae. A summary of experiments and future capabilities will be presented.  

Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, 617 253-8101, RIVENBERG@PSFC.MIT.EDU

Dr. Ralf Heilmann, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Kavli Institute

Feb/03

Fri

02:30PM-04:15PM

Marlar Lounge 37-252

Enrollment: no limit or advanced sign up for talk; signup for tour at 2:25pm on Feb 3
Sign-up by 02/03
Limited to 6 participants
Prereq: none

The Space Nanotechnology Laboratory (SNL) develops advanced lithography and nano-fabrication technology for high performance space instrumentation, as well as nanometer-accuracy metrology and assembly technology. Two current efforts are the development of nanofabricated soft x-ray gratings, the so-called critical-angle transmission (CAT) gratings, and the development of high-precision focusing X-ray mirrors. CAT gratings require the fabrication of sub-micron structures with extreme geometries and sub-nanometer precision, while x-ray mirrors are formed at 600 deg C while floating on porous air bearings and shaped further using ion implantation. These efforts are aimed at instruments that can help find the missing baryons in the Cosmic Web and reveal the secrets of dark matter.

PLEASE NOTE:  There will be a tour of the Space Nanotechnology Laboratory (SNL) from 3:15-4:15pm.  The pre-requisite for going on the SNL tour is attending this talk.  The tour is limited to SIX people; advance sign-up required starting at 2:25 pm in 37-252.  You must attend this talk to take the tour.

A complete listing of IAP activities being offered by MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is posted on the MKI website.

Sponsor(s): Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research
Contact: Debbie Meinbresse, 37-241, 617 253-1456, MEINBRES@MIT.EDU

David Keith, Professor of Applied Physics

Feb/02

Thu

02:00PM-03:00PM

NW17-218

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

What tools exist, or could reasonably be developed, to directly alter the Earth's climate? What are the limits to solar geoengineering? What are the ethics might apply to the development of such tools?

Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, 617 253-8101, RIVENBERG@PSFC.MIT.EDU

Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist

Enrollment: Engineering majors, sophomore or above
Sign-up by 01/06
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Engineering major, sophomore or above

If you are interested in designing and building electric vehicles (EVs), then this IAP class is for you.

The course is split into two parts: [1] Lecture and [2] Lab and separate enrollment is necessary. 

The lab is a smaller class size, hands-on and covers motors, motor controllers, speed controllers, batteries and vehicle systems. The labs will explore general electric vehicle technologies using lithium-ion batteries and small electric vehicles such as electric scooters and skateboards (which the students will take apart, reassemble and ride). Enrollment in the lab is extremely limited and geared towards MIT engineering students that have sophomore standing or above. Note: extra hours in the evenings will be needed to complete labs (outside the scheduled time). You must commit to attend all lab sessions to enroll.

There will be 5 lab sessions:

Lab #1: Estimating Energy & Power of EVs 

Lab #2: Vehicle Systems 

Lab #3: Batteries

Lab #4: PID speed controllers I 

Lab #5: PID speed controllers II 

To register please fill out this form (only once for both the lecture and lab)

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Center
Contact: Lennon Rodgers, design-ev@mit.edu

---

How to Design Electric Vehicles - Lab

Jan/09	Mon	09:00AM-12:00PM	IDC, N52-3rd Floor
Jan/11	Wed	09:00AM-12:00PM	IDC, N52-3rd Floor
Jan/13	Fri	09:00AM-12:00PM	IDC, N52-3rd Floor
Jan/18	Wed	09:00AM-12:00PM	IDC, N52-3rd Floor
Jan/20	Fri	09:00AM-12:00PM	IDC, N52-3rd Floor

See course description

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist

Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist, Ryan Chin, Lecturer, CEO of Optimus Ride, Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning

Enrollment: Limited Enrollment
Sign-up by 01/06
Limited to 40 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None - open to all MIT students/staff

If you are interested in designing and building electric vehicles (EVs), then this IAP class is for you.

The course is split into two parts: [1] Lecture and [2] Lab and separate enrollment is necessary. 

The lecture-style sessions are where industry experts, MIT faculty and researchers will present the basic building blocks of EVs including: battery systems, electric motors, motor controllers, overall vehicle systems integration, current market trends, cost challenges, competitive technologies, and future applications including urban mobility, autonomous vehicles, EV infrastructure, energy storage for utilities, and the role of policy and incentives. You may attend one or all of the lecture sessions.

To register please fill out this form (only once for both the lecture and lab)

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Center, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Lennon Rodgers, design-ev@mit.edu

---

How to Design EVs - Lecture

Jan/10	Tue	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155
Jan/11	Wed	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155
Jan/12	Thu	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155
Jan/17	Tue	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155
Jan/18	Wed	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155
Jan/19	Thu	01:30PM-04:30PM	32-155

Details coming soon... 

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, Ryan Chin - Lecturer, CEO of Optimus Ride, Sanjay Sarma - Vice President for Open Learning

Joe Higgins, Director, Infrastructure Business Operations

Jan/13

Fri

09:00AM-10:00AM

Building 36-155

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/12
Limited to 30 participants

How does an investment in a North Carolina solar farm support MIT’s greenhouse gas reduction goals? How does MIT’s power purchase agreement neutralize a portion of our carbon emissions? Will there be research opportunities for students and faculty at this solar facility? To find out the answers to these questions and more, come hear the Department of Facilities’ Director of Infrastructure Business Operations speak about MIT’s innovative partnership with a Boston area medical center and a park that will enable the construction of the Summit Farms solar facility.

Also, check out our other energy related IAP events:

1/13 at 10AM: Powering MIT: An Inside Look at MIT’s Energy Infrastructure

1/13 at 11AM: Powering MIT: A Tour of MIT’s Central Utilities Plant 

Sponsor(s): Department of Facilities, Office of Sustainability
Contact: Bernadette Drinkwater, bdrink@mit.edu

Patrick Boisvert, Technical Associate

Jan/26

Thu

02:00PM-03:00PM

13-2137

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: None

The lecture will provide an introduction to the basic principles of Scanning Electron Microscopy with an approach to EDX, EBSD, and BSE.

Sponsor(s): Center for Materials Science and Engineering
Contact: Patrick Boisvert, 13-1018, 617-253-3317, pboisver@mit.edu

Dr. Abdelkrim Doufene, Research Scientist, IDSS, Sara Jahanmir, Research Affiliate, Chemical Engineering, Shabir Hassan, Postdoctoral Associate, MIT/Harvard Medical School

Jan/17	Tue	01:30PM-05:30PM	8-205, bring laptop and phone
Jan/18	Wed	01:30PM-05:30PM	8-205, bring laptop and phone
Jan/19	Thu	01:30PM-05:30PM	8-205, bring laptop and phone
Jan/20	Fri	01:30PM-05:30PM	8-205, bring laptop and phone

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Limited to 24 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: none

This course introduces the main tools useful to kick-off a startup project. We focus on the potential use of Internet of Things in healthcare systems. Students will be asked to bring ideas to the class to use for their projects. Each student will introduce their idea to the class. Groups will be created and students will join the project they prefer. Complementary profiles will be encouraged to work together.

Each session consists of a theoretical followed by a practical part, during which students will apply the theory to their own projects. They will be evaluated based on a written report and group presentations. Throughout the course, students will be asked to use collaborative web and social media tools.

S1: Basics of Entrepreneurship - Value Proposition in Healthcare - Business Model Generation

S2: Technology Transfer to Market - Internet of Things Applied to Healthcare

S3: Refining the Projects – Elevator Pitch

S4: Presentations and Discussion

This course is tailored for those interested in basic tools of creating start-ups. It is inspired by some of the most successful courses in the MIT-Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. It provides an overview of material and tools that teams can use to develop a business model and prepare an elevator pitch.

Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iap-2017-class-introduction-to-entrepreneurship-iot-in-healthcare-tickets-29467240309

Additional information will be emailed to enrolled students.

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration
Contact: Abdelkrim Doufene, doufene@mit.edu

Keji Li, Postdoctoral Fellow, Murat Yildirim, Postdotoral Associate

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: Basic Knowledge in linear algebra, Fourier transformation, a

This short course is designed to briefly introduce major invasive and noninvasive neuron recording methods used in neuroscience research today. The various methods for recording of neuron population activity are essential in modern neuroscience as they provide a vital technique in the exploration of: 1) functional role of brain areas; 2) role of specific cells types in local circuits; 3) neural encoding of sensory input or decision; 4) formation of memory and learned skill; 5) other uncharted territory in neuroscience. We target senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students, in the hope that this course will aid in their choice of future field of study and research.

We plan to have an overview of the major methods, then for each method the following topics will be discussed:

1)    theories behind the measurement

2)    implementation and important parameters

3)    analysis of the resulting data

4)    advantages and disadvantages of the method

5)    specific considerations when using the data

6)    notable uses of the method

Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Contact: Keji Li, Bldg 46, (617) 253-8785, kejili@mit.edu

---

Session 1

Jan/18	Wed	01:00PM-05:00PM	46-3189
Jan/19	Thu	01:00PM-05:00PM	46-3189

Session 1:

Optical imaging of intrinsic signal; wide field fluorescent imaging; extracellular electrode recording; their experiment design and data analysis using visual areas as example

Session 2:

Principles and applications of fluorescent imaging; one-photon imaging, confocal imaging, two-photon imaging; three-photon imaging; head-mounted fluorescent imaging; system design and analysis of their data

Yong Zhang

Jan/27

Fri

02:00PM-03:30PM

13-2137 von Hippel

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

The lecture provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of transmission electron microscopy. Topics covered include the illumination system, electron lenses and their aberrations, image formation and resolution. A variety of imaging and analysis techniques and their roles specific to inorganic materials, such as crystallography, diffraction patterns and high resolution imaging are to be present with practical demonstration.  This presentation will also introduce TEM sample preparation techniques for a wide range of materials, including metals, semiconductors, powders and thin films. 

 

Contact: Yong Zhang, 13-1034, 617 253-5092, YZHANG05@MIT.EDU

David Trumper

Enrollment: Pre-register on WebSIS
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

There are two new for-credit courses on LabVIEW being offered this IAP. You can take either or both. Pre-register on WebSIS. Short description of each course appears below. Full details can be found here.

2.S974/6.S197 LabVIEW for Controls and Mechatronics (Prof. David Trumper, MIT & Jeannie Falcon, National Instruments) - 3 units
January 11, 12; 10 am-5 pm; 1-004

This is an introductory seminar on LabVIEW for Controls that will cover the following topics: 
·         LabVIEW to instrument your .m file textual algorithms
·         Control design and numerical simulation
·         Real-time implementation with high-speed I/O for control prototyping
·         System identification to aid in plant modeling
·         Digital filter design to take out measurement noise
·         Programming FPGAs with LabVIEW

2.S973/6.S198 Introduction to LabVIEW: Programming Language for Controlling Hardware for Engineering Applications (Prof. David Trumper & and Hope Harrison, MIT) - 6 units
MWF, January 13, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30; 12-2:30 pm and Feb 1, 12-1 pm; 36-156

This class will teach you the basics of programming in LabVIEW which is a language for controlling hardware in automated scientific experiments and engineering. At the end of the class you will take the Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer (CLAD) Exam, which will give you internationally recognized certification.

 

 

 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Laura Zaganjori, 617-258-5620, LAURAZ@MIT.EDU

Sara Jahanmir, Research Affiliate, Chemical Engineering

Jan/10	Tue	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135
Jan/11	Wed	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135
Jan/13	Fri	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135
Jan/17	Tue	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135
Jan/18	Wed	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135
Jan/20	Fri	09:00AM-12:00PM	2-135

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/05
Limited to 25 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: None

The course will apply the “Lag-User Method” as a tool for students to involve late adopters of technologies in idea generation and new product development.

The Lag-User Method is an innovative new product development method, developed and tested in numerous fields (technologies, services, consumer goods and many more). It was created in cooperation with business schools across various countries and has been published in the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, the Wall Street Journal, and other international media.

Prior to class, students will be asked to select a technology that is mature in its life cycle. In teams of 3 or 4, they will select one technology and will apply the “Lag-User Method” to understand the late adopters of that technology and explore which new ideas/improvements provided by late adopters could result in a faster diffusion.

The class consists of theoretical lectures by the lecturer(s) as well as group work among students. The theoretical part of the class is supported by videos, guest speakers and optional reading material. 

Students from different backgrounds are encouraged to work together. Some market research will be conducted outside the class hours.

Register here by Jan. 5: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iap-class-lag-user-method-using-late-adopters-as-a-source-of-innovative-ideas-tickets-30165670332

Pre-course assignment will be emailed to registered students. 

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration
Contact: Sara Jahanmir, jahanmir@mit.edu

Bruce Mackenzie, Mars Foundation

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

A series of presentations about living on Mars and
how to economically build an early human
settlement on Mars, emphasizing use of local materials.

 

30 January

Overview of Hillside Mars Settlement 

This “Hillside Settlement” proposal by the Mars Foundation would build
a permanent settlement on Mars, constructed by 12 people from local
materials such as fiberglass and masonry. Preliminary mass and cost
estimates show that we may be able to establish a permanent, growing
settlement for the same launch cost as a program of round-trip
exploratory missions. Members of National Space Society are invited.


Feb.   1st,  2017

Mars Settlement, a Minimum One-Way Program     

Proposal for a very small, relatively inexpensive manufacturing base
for Mars. It starts with just 2 people, and can grow into a permanent
human settlement; a draft design in progress by the Mars Foundation.



Feb.  3rd

Discussion on Improving the Mars One Plan

We will discuss the "Mars One" plan to send people to Mars,
and how to improve it, or rework it.

Sponsor(s): Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club, Students for Exploration and Development of Space
Contact: Bruce Mackenzie, 781-249-5437, BMackenzie@alum.mit.edu

---

Mars Settlement Series

Jan/11	Wed	12:00PM-01:00PM	E51-149
Jan/12	Thu	07:00PM-09:00PM	E62-221
Jan/23	Mon	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146
Jan/25	Wed	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146
Jan/27	Fri	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146
Jan/30	Mon	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146
Feb/01	Wed	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146
Feb/03	Fri	12:00PM-01:00PM	2-146

A series of lectures on various aspects of settling Mars.

Bruce Mackenzie - Mars Foundation

Bruce Mackenzie, Mars Foundation

Jan/11	Wed	03:00PM-05:00PM	E51-390
Jan/13	Fri	03:00PM-05:00PM	E62-221
Jan/18	Wed	03:00PM-05:00PM	E62-221
Jan/20	Fri	03:00PM-05:00PM	E62-221

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 16 participants
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session

Want to open up a new world to live in?

Help create a technical plan to start flexible manufacturing and
growing food on Mars, using materials made on Mars (in-situ),
with minimum equipment brought from Earth.

Details will be worked out by you, the participants, but may include
3D printing, recycling and
production of polymers on-site, production of other building
materials, and on-site assembly of habitats and greenhouses. Portions
can be adapted from past designs by the Mars Foundation and other
plans.

If there is interest, we can include Mars rover design, social,
economic, political aspects, and suggestions for a business plan.

Please contact us early, if possible,
even if you cannot attend at these times.
This will help us schedule additional sessions,
and provide you background material.


Attendance at most sessions is expected.
Additional design sessions will be scheduled at your
convenience.

The first two weeks of IAP will be for designing the overall mission plan.
You can join the follow on workshop during the third and fourth weeks
for more detailed design of various systems.

Sponsor(s): Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club, Students for Exploration and Development of Space, Mars Society
Contact: Bruce Mackenzie, BMackenzie@alum.mit.edu

Bruce Mackenzie, Mars Foundation

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

Want to open up a new world to live in?

Help fill out a technical plan for flexible manufacturing and
growing food on Mars, using materials made on Mars (in-situ),
with minimum equipment brought from Earth.

We will work on detailed designs of systems needed

to live on Mars, including: 3D printing, recycling and
production of polymers on-site, production of other building
materials, and on-site assembly of habitats and greenhouses. Portions
can be adapted from past designs by the Mars Foundation and other
plans.

If there is interest, we may include Mars rover design, social,
economic, political aspects, and suggestions for a business plan.

Please contact us early, if possible,
even if you cannot attend at these times.
This will help us schedule additional sessions,
and provide you background material.

Attendance at most sessions is expected.
Additional design sessions will be scheduled at your
convenience.

If possible, also try to attend
“Mars Settlement Workshop, Mission Design”
during the first and second weeks of IAP.
That will be for designing the overall mission plan.

Sponsor(s): Astropreneurship and Space Industry Club, Students for Exploration and Development of Space
Contact: Bruce Mackenzie, 781-249-5437, BMackenzie@alum.mit.edu

---

Mars Settlement Workshop, System Design

Jan/23	Mon	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146
Jan/25	Wed	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146
Jan/27	Fri	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146
Jan/30	Mon	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146
Feb/01	Wed	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146
Feb/03	Fri	01:00PM-02:00PM	2-146

Want to open up a new world to live in?

Help fill out a technical plan for flexible manufacturing and
growing food on Mars, using materials made on Mars (in-situ),
with minimum equipment brought from Earth.

Bruce Mackenzie - Mars Foundation

Franz-Josef Ulm, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq, Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/06
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Porous materials are ubiquitous in many engineering applications, and specifically in energy and environment related engineering applications. The Marseille Winterschool organized through the MIT-CNRS joined lab with the support of MITEI and the MIT-France program will take place as an IAP-activity on January 23-27, 2017 in Marseille, France. It brings together scientists and engineers to provide a one-week training for graduate students and postdocs in all facets of multiscale porous materials, ranging from advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to nanomechanical testing of stiffness, strength and fracture properties of porous materials. While dedicated to the science and engineering of porous materials at multiple scales, the 2017 edition will be developed contextually around Porous Materials in Carbon Capture and Storage Solutions. This IAP-offering will be of interest to graduate students in several engineering & science disciplines (DMSE, MechE, NSE, ChemE, CEE, EAPS, Physics,…).

Sponsor(s): MIT France Program
Contact: Franz-Josef Ulm, 1-263, 617 253-3544, ULM@MIT.EDU

---

Marseille Winterschool/ Day 1

Jan/23

Mon

09:00AM-05:00PM

Marseille University, (free lunch)

Franz-Josef Ulm - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq - Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

---

Marseille Winterschool/ Day 2

Jan/24

Tue

09:00AM-05:00PM

Marseille University, (free lunch)

Franz-Josef Ulm - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq - Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

---

Marseille Winterschool/ Day 3

Jan/25

Wed

09:00AM-05:00PM

Marseille University

Franz-Josef Ulm - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq - Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

---

Marseille Winterschool/ Day 4

Jan/26

Thu

09:00AM-05:00PM

Marseille University, (free lunch)

Franz-Josef Ulm - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq - Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

---

Marseille Winterschool/ Day 5

Jan/27

Fri

09:00AM-05:00PM

Marseille University, (free lunch)

Franz-Josef Ulm - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Roland Pellenq - Senior Research Scientist and CNRS Res. Director, Ruben Juanes - Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Cong Su, Ph.D. candidate of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This is the first session of "Mateirals Characterization Techniques and Principles" Series. In this session, we will cover a general introduction to various characterization techniques in material science and physics, and discusses the physical principle for each characterization method. Specifically, in this session we will cover angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), quantum oscillation (QO), neutron scattering, Raman spectroscopy, thermoelectric measurements, and electron microscopies. Some simulation techniques will also be briefly discussed if apply.

Contact: Cong Su, 13-3077, 617 253-5618, CSU@MIT.EDU

---

First day

Jan/17

Tue

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

---

Second day

Jan/18

Wed

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

---

Third day

Jan/19

Thu

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

---

Fourth day

Jan/24

Tue

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

---

Fifth day

Jan/25

Wed

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

---

Sixth day

Jan/26

Thu

10:30AM-03:00PM

Location TBD

Homer Reid

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

Do you---as an engineer---sometimes consult pure-math papers or textbooks in the hope of deriving insight into a puzzling mathematical challenge, only to be stymied by an impenetrable wall of jargon such as short exact sequences and functoriality?

Do you---as a physicist---need to know what things like cohomology and p-forms are, but can't learn from pure-math textbooks because of the dense thicket of abstract terminology and concepts lying between the title page and the interesting content?

Or do you---as an applied or numerical mathematician---simply wonder what your pure-math colleagues are doing down the corridor all day?

If so, this is the course for you!

http://homerreid.com/teaching/MoPuMMAM

Sponsor(s): Mathematics
Contact: Homer Reid, (857) 829-1667, homereid@mit.edu

---

Cohomology for dummies

Jan/23

Mon

02:30PM-04:00PM

E25-117

---

Algebraic topology

Jan/25

Wed

02:30PM-04:00PM

E25-117

---

Differential Geometry

Jan/27

Fri

02:30PM-04:00PM

E25-117

---

Algebraic Geometry

Jan/30

Mon

02:30PM-04:00PM

E25-117

---

Number Theory

Feb/01

Wed

02:30PM-04:00PM

E25-117

---

Tying up Loose Ends; open-ended Q&A

Feb/03

Fri

02:30PM-04:00PM

32-144

Andrew Lo, Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor

Jan/23

Mon

02:00PM-03:00PM

NW17-218

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

The idea of fusion energy is nearly half a century old, yet we still seem far away from "ignition." One of the biggest hurdles is lack of funding. However, the recent announcement by Softbank of a $100 billion technology fund suggests that there *is* money available if we can create a financially attractive investment vehicle to commercialize fusion technology. In this talk, Prof. Lo will describe some of the necessary financial ingredients for launching such a fund.

Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, 617 253-8101, RIVENBERG@PSFC.MIT.EDU

Sungwoo Yang, Research scientist

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/27
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Chemistry is a key to controlling the structure of a material, which ultimately determines the way that various carriers, such as photons, phonons, electrons, ions and molecules, propagate through materials. In this class, I will show how understanding the underlying physics and chemistry of porous materials can unlock a variety of sustainable energy applications including thermal energy storage, water harvesting from air, and solar-thermal energy conversion. The focus of this class is on three emerging porous materials: 1) metal organic frameworks (MOFs), 2) 3-dimensional graphene (3dGR), and 3) aerogels.  

By combining MOFs and 3dGR, we have demonstrated high thermal energy density (495 Wh kg-1 and 218 Wh L) at the component level. Furthermore, we demonstrated that by optimizing a water harvesting device with MOFs, ~2.8 L kg-1 at a relative humidity of 20% can be obtained – addressing the increasing problem of water scarcity.

Finally, the chemistry and physics of aerogels will be discussed. This thermally insulating and optically transparent aerogel has great promise for solar-thermal conversion applications. We demonstrated tempurates of 240 °C under un-concentrated solar illumination in ambient conditions, which can replace conventional heat systems based on natural gas combustion.

I will conclude by sharing future outlook about the critical role that chemistry and mechncial engineering inter-play for developing advanced materials for sustainable energy conversion. 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Sungwoo Yang, 7-034, 919 724-0662, SWYANG@MIT.EDU

---

Feb/02	Thu	10:00AM-11:00AM	7-034B
Feb/03	Fri	10:00AM-11:00AM	7-034B

Sungwoo Yang - Research scientist

Seth Kinderman, Plant Engineer, Central Utilities Plant

Jan/13

Fri

11:00AM-12:00PM

Building 42 - TBD, Wear closed-toe shoes. Safety hat/glasses provided

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/12
Limited to 15 participants

Please note - this event is at full capacity. Keep an eye on the MIT events calendar for future tour dates.

MIT’s Central Utilities Plant (CUP) uses a highly efficient cogeneration system to provide electricity, steam heat, and chilled water to more than 100 buildings on campus—enabling innovative research while also helping MIT achieve its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. This balancing act is anything but simple. Join the Plant Engineer, Seth Kinderman, on a tour of the CUP. Get a first-hand look at how MIT’s on-campus facility has been helping MIT conserve energy and reduce emissions for more than 20 years.

Also, check out our other energy related IAP events:

1/13 at 9AM: Innovative Energy Solutions for a Growing Campus

1/13 at 10AM: Powering MIT: An Inside Look at MIT’s Energy Infrastructure

Sponsor(s): Department of Facilities
Contact: Jason Caloggero, jgcal_0@mit.edu

Ken Packard, Director of Utilities, Scott Stordy, Senior Project Manager, Utilities

Jan/13

Fri

10:00AM-11:00AM

Building 36-155

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/12
Limited to 30 participants

MIT’s Central Utilities Plant (CUP) uses a highly efficient cogeneration system to provide electricity, steam heat, and chilled water to more than 100 buildings on campus—enabling innovative research while also helping MIT achieve its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. Here’s a chance to learn more about the complexity of MIT’s energy infrastructure from the engineers dedicated to powering MIT. Come learn about MIT’s on-campus cogeneration plant upgrade, plans for a growing campus, and more.

Also, check out our other energy related IAP events:

1/13 at 9AM: Innovative Energy Solutions for a Growing Campus

1/13 at 11AM: Powering MIT: A Tour of MIT’s Central Utilities Plant

Sponsor(s): Department of Facilities
Contact: Bernadette Drinkwater, bdrink@mit.edu

Erik Fogg, Project Lead, Stroud International, Nat Greene, CEO, Stroud International

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/18
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Hey look, buddy, you’re an engineer. That means you solve problems. Not problems like, “What is beauty?” because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. You solve practical problems.

Most engineers can solve simple problems--but hard ones? Those are the ones that really matter. Being able to solve hard problems will make you a truly great engineer, and with that skill you can go change the world.

Join us this IAP and learn the behaviors of great problem-solvers, across engineering disciplines.

Problem-solving is a core aspect of any technical profession, particularly engineering. Engineers are taught many tools that they can use to solve problems, and in business they are likely to be taught problem-solving methodologies that lay out steps they can take while solving problems. But rarely are they taught skills or behaviors with which to use these tools and methodologies. Instead, they are taught to guess or brainstorm potential root causes while attempting to solve the problem, and against hard problems, they fail. This course will introduce engineers to the behaviors they need to nurture in order to solve hard problems, and give them opportunities to practice using them. They will be able to take these new behaviors and improve their problem-solving in the future.

Please sign up for this course by sending an email to fogg.erik@gmail.com.

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Erik Fogg, (781) 715-5492, fogg.erik@gmail.com

---

Problem-Solving for Engineers

Jan/23	Mon	12:30PM-05:00PM	3-370
Jan/24	Tue	12:30PM-05:00PM	3-370
Jan/25	Wed	12:30PM-05:00PM	3-370
Jan/26	Thu	12:30PM-05:00PM	3-370

Four days, four hours per day, with a quick break. Classes will include a brief lecture, followed by group work with support from teachers, and presentations to the class for feedback. Students will work as groups on a hard problem in their lives or communities throughout the class. Expect some homework.

Erik Fogg - Project Lead, Stroud International, Nat Greene - CEO, Stroud International

Devin Neal

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Familiarity with Linux

A week long course that will cover the inner workings of Linux binaries for the purpose of both understanding and exploitation. The course will include concepts such as ELF binary format, hex editors, debuggers, memory corruption, shellcoding, and return-oritented programming. Each class will have both a lecture component to go over new material and a hands-on component to put the new information to use. The only prerequisite is previous experience with Linux and Python. Previous experience with C, while not necessary, will be very helpful.

Contact: Devin Neal, DEVNEAL@MIT.EDU

---

Language of Binaries

Jan/09

Mon

01:00PM-04:00PM

32-141, Bring your laptop

Covering the format of ELF binaries and the process by which they are created and executed.

Devin Neal

---

Reversing and Cracking

Jan/10

Tue

01:00PM-04:00PM

32-141, Bring your laptop

Static analysis of binaries for the purposes of understanding and modification.

Devin Neal

---

Exploitation I

Jan/11

Wed

01:00PM-04:00PM

32-141, Bring your laptop

This session will cover memory corruption, buffer overflows, and control hijacking.

Devin Neal

---

Exploitation II

Jan/12

Thu

01:00PM-04:00PM

32-141, Bring your laptop

This session will cover heap overflows, shellcoding, and DEP/ROP.

Devin Neal

---

Continuing in Reversing

Jan/13

Fri

01:00PM-04:00PM

32-141, Bring your laptop

Here we'll cover the implications of what we've learned to real-world software and possibly hold a competition to use the concepts learned in the previous sessions.

Devin Neal

Vishal Doshi, Ying-Zong Huang, Vasudha Shivamoggi, (MIT Alums), Ritesh Madan, Balaji Rengarajan, (Celect, Inc.), Devavrat Shah, Professor of EECS

Feb/01

Wed

09:00AM-05:00PM

32-124

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Prereq: Interest in topic and readiness for firehose

The traditional approach to building prediction systems has been tailored
to a specific goal. For example, the recommendation system for a media portal
like Netflix or YouTube is built primarily to serve a singular goal of
finding media that an individual may find engaging. This approach works
great when one has time and / or resources to invest in building such a
system and prediction goal remains unchanged.

In many scenarios, one wishes to build a scalable prediction system with
the following desiderata: (a) system gets up and running without team of
data scientists (just like using a database), (b) system can incorporate
new data sources seamlessly, (c) supports generic prediction goals, (d)
scalable and robust, and (e) ability to consume unstructured data (a la
text, image).

At Celect, Inc. (founded out of MIT), such a system has been built.
Specifically, it is a software layer that changes a given scalable storage
infrastructure into scalable prediction infrastructure. In this one day
course, we will discuss: (a) system abstraction and interfaces, (b)
detailed demonstration, and (c) various case-studies with relevant
datasets.

Please feel free to bring your dataset and prediction problem to give it a
try!

Space is Limited, Please Register  <https://goo.gl/mDXluo>

 

Sponsor(s): Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Devavrat Shah, devavrat@mit.edu

Carlos de la Torre, MIT SPURS '15

Jan/31

Tue

12:30PM-02:00PM

9-255, TBD

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: None

The objective is to support new ventures and their teams integrate the financial (or private); economic (or social) and distributive (or externality) dimensions of such initiatives. We will use simple examples and group exercises to (1) assess impact of the venture/project and (2) address the informational needs of different audiences/stakeholders in the public and private sectors.  The tools and skills shown could be relevant for roles such as planners, economists, managers, designers, negotiators, entrepreneurs and philanthropists. 

This activity is sponsored by the Department for Urban Studies and Planning and the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship.

 

Sponsor(s): Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: Carlos De La Torre Salcedo, 9-338, 617 253-4510, CDLT@MIT.EDU

Dr. Shu T. Lai, Research Affiliate

Jan/17

Tue

02:00PM-04:00PM

Room 33-319

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: See description.

Spacecraft charging affects electronic measurements onboard and may be destructive for a spacecraft. The lecture begins by discussing the fundamentals of space environment and explaining what, where, when, and why spacecraft charging occurs.  The physical mechanism of spacecraft charging is clearly explained.  Solar storms are important for incoming currents; material properties are important for the outgoing currents.  Current balance between the incoming and outgoing currents determines the spacecraft potential. 

Spacecraft charging can occur in sunlight.  In a monopole-dipole configuration, potential barriers can form, trapping photoelectrons on the sunlit surface.

Mitigation methods are discussed.

Benefits:  This lecture offers awareness of hazards in space environment.  The physical concept will help equip the students for pursuing future scientific research ideas in fields of space physics, space propulsion, plasma physics, spacecraft engineering, and material science.  

Prereq: Attendees may have little or no background in this area. 

Sponsor(s): Aeronautics and Astronautics
Contact: Dr. Shu Lai, shlaii11@mit.edu

Carlos Azevedo, Research Scientist

Jan/09	Mon	09:00AM-05:00PM	Washington, D.C.
Jan/10	Tue	09:00AM-05:00PM	Washington, D.C.
Jan/11	Wed	09:00AM-05:00PM	Washington, D.C.
Jan/12	Thu	09:00AM-05:00PM	Washington, D.C.

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session
Fee: $175.00 for Non-TRB Member Full-Time Student Fee (by November 30).

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 96th Annual Meeting is an information-packed program expected to attract more that 12,000 transportation professionals from around the world.

The meeting program will cover all tranportation modes, with more that 5,000 presentations in nearly 750 sessions and workshops, addressing topics of interest to students, researchers, policy makers, administrators, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. A number of workshops will focus on the spotlight for the 2017 meeting: Transportation Innovation: Leading the Way in an Era of Rapid Change.

Students may register online at http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting/Registration.aspx

Registration by November 30 costs $175 for non-TRB member full-time students. Registration after November 30 is $200.

 

Contact: Carlos Azevedo, 1-181, 617 253-9729, TEC@MIT.EDU

Svetlana Boriskina, Research Scientist

Jan/24

Tue

11:00AM-12:00PM

room 3-270

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/22
Prereq: none

Plasmonics is a sub-area of nanotechnology that aims at using metals for focusing and guiding light. Unlike conventional optics, plasmonics enables unrivalled high concentration of optical energy well beyond the diffraction limit. However, a significant part of this energy is dissipated as heat. Plasmonic losses present a major hurdle in the development of plasmonic devices and circuits that can compete with other mature technologies. 

However, plasmonics is a horizontal scientific discipline, not a vertical market. Consumers only ultimately care about effective products at a good price, and not about the scientific thinking that led to the product development. In many cases, the product that makes it to the market is very different from the one scientists had in mind when they embarked on their research projects. Plasmonics is an excellent illustration of this point, and emerging applications of plasmonics leverage rather than fight Ohmic losses in metals to achieve new enhanced functionalities. 

The lecture will give a brief intro to plasmonics, and will discuss emerging technologies and products that make use of plasmonic effects and span a wide range of end-user markets and applications. 

Please register by Jan 22 

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Svetlana Boriskina, 7-006, 617 253-7488, SBORISK@MIT.EDU

Jared Spool

Jan/19

Thu

07:00PM-09:00PM

E51-345

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: programming

"Which username did I use?"
"Do they want my email address or my nickname?"
"Which password did I use?"
"What was my favorite vegetable when I created this account?"
Nothing wrecks a great user experience like a login form. Our password rules make it hard to remember what we've used, and stupid security questions lock us out of our accounts. And none of these security gymnastics actually prevent our personal information from leaking into the world. (In fact, we often inadvertently make it easier.)

If it's not usable, it's not secure. Unusable authentication systems are a bellwether of poor end-to-end experience. Once you've frustrated a user with their account creation or session authentication, it's extremely hard to win them back.

Security isn't sexy, but when we get it right, we reduce risk and increase user satisfaction. In this entertaining presentation, Jared will explain how to make authentication design a top priority in your experience architecture. He'll show you where the real risks are and why you shouldn't trust others to handle your design's security elegantly.

Jared will walk you through:

How to best protect your users without making them frustrated.
How Amazon reduces fraud and makes money with a multi-state security model.
How to keep the Paranoids at bay without degrading the user experience.

 

Sponsor(s): Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Peter Mager, p.mager@computer.org

Dr. Peter Belobaba, Principal Research Scientist, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, Michael D. Wittman, Ph.D. Candidate, MIT International Center for Air Transportation

Jan/23

Mon

02:00PM-03:30PM

Room 33-206

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Why is airline pricing so complicated and why is that great fare you saw yesterday not available for purchase today? This talk explains the theory and practice of airline pricing and revenue management -- how airlines determine prices and how many seats to sell at each price. We also discuss how airline pricing will change in the near future, from the recent trend of unbundling (ancillary revenues) to next-generation distribution systems, dynamic offer generation, and customized pricing.

Sponsor(s): Aeronautics and Astronautics
Contact: Marie Stuppard, 33-202, x3-2279, mas@mit.edu