Power System Balancing with High Renewable Penetration: The Potential of Demand Response in Hawai'i -- Karl Critz, SDM '10, Clean Energy Innovator and SDM Student

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:13:41 GMT

About the Presentation

The state of Hawai'i plans to obtain 40% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. Balancing intermittent wind with fossil fuel plants can be expensive, slowing adoption. A social and technical infrastructure for temporary reductions in load (demand response) enables 4% greater wind harvesting at 10% less operating cost. This webinar will focus on an investigation that applied a stochastic unit commitment optimization to account for uncertain wind forecasts. Fast-responding demand enabled existing thermal generators to run more efficiently, increased the grid's reliability margins, and infrequently impacted customers. The demand response modeled here could put Hawai'i on a pragmatic path to achieving its energy independence goals and will provide lessons for renewable energy integration on the mainland.

About the Speaker

Karl Critz (SDM '10) is a clean energy innovator. The research presented in this talk is the result of a forthcoming publication with the National Renewable Energy Lab. As a developer and product manager, Critz has launched successful products in the controls software and medical device spaces. He is currently working on smart grid technologies to speed integration of practical residential solar power.

About the Series

The MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar Series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.

Master's student Megan Lickley measures the risks of climate change on coastal energy infrastructure

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:33:48 GMT

A Masters student in the Technology and Policy Program, Megan Lickley studies the impact of climate change on coastal energy infrastructure. In particular, she is looking at how sea level rise and hurricanes will change over time, and how these changes will affect petroleum refineries, offshore wind facilities, or nuclear power plants located along the eastern US coast.

Prior to joining the Joint Program, Megan used her background in mathematics and modeling to study ocean dynamics and tidal power in her native Canada. Now in the preliminary stages of her work, she is using different models to anticipate how hurricane frequency and intensity will change over the coming century in order to analyze the amount of potential storm surge that could threaten energy infrastructure along the coast.

"It is an interesting problem when you're looking at economics too," explains Megan. "We must not only look at existing infrastructure, but we also need to consider future developments to understand what infrastructure could be in harm's way in the next 50, 100 years. Information on the impacts of climate change will be useful for the Department of Energy as they make decisions on where to invest in future developments and to what extent they should be investing in flood protection from sea level rise and storm surge."

Megan became interested in her project when she visited the Joint Program. "This is a very stimulating group to be a part of," notes Megan. "There is a variety of work going on surrounding emissions scenarios and policy and their resulting impacts on climate change. These are the big questions of the future that we should be addressing now and I am excited to be surrounded by people looking to address these questions."

Data-driven Traffic Modeling, Prediction, and Planning

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

03/15/2011 4:00 PM 3"270Daniela Rus, MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Associate Director of CSAIL; Description: Some professors work primarily in labs, and others mainly at desks. Daniela Rus conducts her research on the bustling streets of Singapore, where she is helping to design a "future mobility project" whose goal is to "marry information technology with the transportation industry." This venture aims to improve urban passenger and freight transportation, addressing issues of gridlock and other traffic frustrations _ a giant step toward a more rational, sustainable travel system. Rus's work, part of the Singapore"MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, involves piloting a "mobility on demand" transport network on a campus springing up to host foreign research groups. Part of this vision involves creating autonomous robot vehicles (golf carts with brains) that can sense their way with laser scanners and GPS to pick people up at one point, and drop them off at another. These robots must navigate their way through a densely populated human environment, avoiding collisions and timing departures and arrivals with precision. Fleets of lightweight vehicles figure in the dream of making cities greener by decreasing private vehicle use. In addition, as part of this multi"phase project, Rus and her collaborators are collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data on current traffic patterns in Singapore, with the goal of "maximizing the experience in traffic." Accessing GPS information from Singapore's 16 thousand taxis, her group gathered data logged at one"minute intervals on taxi speed, location, and occupancy. "This rich data set for the entire country is a source of joy for me and my colleagues," says Rus. This information showed traffic spikes, and the most frequent origins and destinations _ "an interesting way of seeing what everyone in Singapore is up to." With data gathered from roadbed detectors as well, Rus built up predictions about how taxi and general traffic moved from day to day, and then came up with algorithms for mapping "congestion aware routing," not just for single users, but for the entire city. Says Rus, "The system computes different paths according to different times of day," and can" help cars get from one point to another without getting stuck." Rus proudly relates that her algorithm works better "than the simple searches Google supports." In the final phase of the project, says Rus, autonomous robot cars will be deployed carrying onboard navigation systems for sensing and predicting traffic patterns, picking up and dropping off riders at stations so as to minimize wait times, and generally moving where needed "in a congestion aware way." About the Speaker(s): Daniela Rus is also the co"director of the CSAIL Center for Robotics, and an associate director of CSAIL. Her research interests include distributed robotics, mobile computing, and programmable matter. She has several research activities in environmental robotics. She is the recipient of an NSF Career award and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship. She is a class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow, and a fellow of AAAI. Previously, she was an assistant professor, associate professor, and professor in the Computer Science Department at Dartmouth. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University. Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

Economic Policy Challenges: Macroeconomics and Fiscal Policy

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

01/27/2011 1:15 PM KresgeRicardo Caballero, PhD '88, Ford Professor of Economics and Department Head, MIT; Pedro Aspe, PhD '78, Co"Chairman, Evercore Partners and Chairman and CEO, Protego; Olivier Blanchard, PhD '77, Class of 1941 Professor of Economics, MIT and Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund; Paul Krugman, PhD'77, Professor of Economics and International Affairs; Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; N. Gregory Mankiw, PhD '84, Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics, Harvard University; Christina Romer, PhD '85, Class of 1957 Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics,; University of California, Berkeley; Robert Gordon, PhD '67, Stanley G Harris Professor of the Social Sciences, Northwestern UniversityDescription: These economists, MIT PhDs all, ponder what remains in the macroeconomist's toolkit to pull the U.S., and much of the developed world, out of recession. They discuss aspects of fiscal and monetary policy that may prove useful in spurring recovery, as well as the complicating matter of politics. IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard describes a "two"speed recovery" around the globe, where emerging market countries like China and India are growing at a brisk clip of around 10%, and developed nations like the U.S. are lagging behind, with growth rates 3% and below. Stronger Eurozone states are struggling to prop up debt"laden Ireland and Greece. Blanchard hopes to avoid a larger European calamity by opening up the books of European banks to allay investors' fears and help recapitalize the banks at appropriate levels. The U.S. and China represent another hot spot for the IMF, with the U.S. running a vast current account deficit (due to years of high U.S. consumption and low household savings), and China a large current account surplus. Both nations want to reverse the situation, but their timetables differ radically. China fears increasing domestic consumption too rapidly and overheating its economy, so is thinking in terms of years. The U.S. wants faster action. If net exports do not improve in the U.S., says Blanchard, then it will be "confronted with a difficult choice: either it does fiscal consolidation, risking slowing growth, or continues large deficitsThere are reasons to think one might want to worry." Emerging markets "have learned lessons from previous crises," says Pedro Aspe, and are generally rebounding from the downturn. In Latin America, they have followed the lead of Chile, adopting an independent central bank, trade liberalization, pension reforms, and flexible labor markets. When they need a stimulus, they lower interest rates and keep public debt low. Aspe also raises red flags around debt and financing in the Eurozone: "You take more financing, and then the private sector knows this game wellThey squeeze economies. Face the debt overhang fast." Robert Gordon replaces the word overhang "with a more evocative word: hangover." The U.S. economy is still weighed down by consumer liabilities, although the household savings rate has improved. There remains an oversupply of residential housing and nonresidential structures, and continued unemployment, only to worsen as state and local governments shed more workers. "What do we do?" he asks repeatedly. "Monetary policy is out of steam." On fiscal policy, Gordon says, "We have to pretend we're a benevolent dictator and ignore political paralysis." He recommends cutting corporate income tax, extending unemployment compensation and making food stamps more generous. He also endorses a new jobs tax credit, but admits it will be "hard to design." Paul Krugman confesses having "nightmares for about a decade before this thing actually happened." What is "worse than he anticipated" is the "apparent inability of policy to come to grips with this." Our paralysis has arrived in part because "we've run into the limits of Samuelsonian synthesis." The traditional levers of monetary and fiscal policy to correct minor market failures have failed. The academic consensus around Keynesian economics has broken, making it less possible to "push through the strong policies you really need at a time like this." This leaves an opening for people "who really believe government should keep its hands off," who don't believe in the need for monetary policy "to be adventurous and unconventional just to avoid utter catastrophe." In addition, "a prolonged period of financial stability" made people careless, leading to mountains of debt. The resulting financial crisis demands aggressive fiscal policies that are politically impossible. "If you'd asked me five years ago what would happen if the U.S. had unemployment in excess of 9% and every prospect of continued high unemployment levels, I'd have said there would be overwhelming political demand for government to do something. In fact there isn't. We have had a near collapse of the idea that government can do anything about this." N. Gregory Mankiw describes how times of economic crisis periodically challenge macroeconomists' consensus of how the business cycle works, and how to fix it when it breaks. In the past few years, "the rock has rolled back to the bottom of the hill." Mankiw believes he and fellow macroeconomists "need to be humble" and "recognize there are a lot of things we don't know." For instance, the conventional take was that monetary policy was the main tool for dealing with recession: cut interest rates, stimulate borrowing and investment, increase aggregate demand. But today, the Fed cannot realistically lower its interest rate below zero. If he tried to increase target inflation rates, Ben Bernanke would "soon be former chairman," says Mankiw, who finds the long"term fiscal picture "extremely worrisome." The administration's last budget "has debt to GDP ratio rising as far as the eye can see." Without major reforms on entitlements and the tax code, there must be another revenue source, and Mankiw "is expecting a value added tax." "In my heart, I feel deeply that actions taken in the last two years were incredibly effective and played a role in the recovery we're seeing," says Christina Romer, a forceful advocate for such strong fiscal policy as the administration's $787 billion stimulus package. Legislation passed during the recent lame duck session of Congress should help blunt the loss of stimulus money. Nevertheless, the "U.S. economy is still suffering from a tremendous shortfall of aggregate demand," with factories and workers unoccupied. She worries that policymakers' anxiety about the long"run fiscal deficit will prevent the kind of immediate measures "we desperately need," that would jumpstart recovery. She argues for "high quality additional fiscal stimulus coupled with a signed, sealed and delivered agreement for deficit reduction starting in 2012 or 2013." This agreement would tackle "the true driver of the deficit, long"run entitlement spending on Social Security and Medicare," and "must surely raise additional revenue." About the Speaker(s): Ricardo J. Caballero is also a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) research associate in economic fluctuations and growth. A native of Chile, he received his B.S. and M.A. in economics from the Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile and his Ph.D. from MIT. His academic interests are macroeconomics, international economics, and finance. His current research focuses on global capital markets, speculative episodes and financial bubbles, systemic crises prevention mechanisms, and dynamic restructuring. Caballero is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Econometric Society. He has been a visiting scholar at the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve Board, the Inter"American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, among other institutions. His work has been published in prominent economics journals.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT150 Inventional Wisdom

Toward Efficient Airport Operations

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/26/2010 4:00 PM 4"237Hamsa Balakrishnan, Asst Professor, Aero Astro and Engineering SystemsDescription: Few of us would elect to spend countless hours at the airport watching planes arrive, depart and sit at gates. But what constitutes a punishment for some actually energizes Hamsa Balakrishnan, whose research focuses on improving airport operations. Her goal is to make air travel more efficient, robust and green. Flying is quite frequently a trial these days, Balakrishnan acknowledges, with delays growing yearly, even during the recession when actual flights decreased. Congestion at the nation's busiest airports is primarily responsible for these delays, which produce billion"dollar losses for the airlines, environmental damage as idling planes burn millions of gallons of fuel, and untold aggravation for passengers. If gridlock at these airports is not addressed, these problems will only worsen, says Balakrishnan, with the projected doubling by 2025 of the nation's approximately 35 thousand daily flights. With a team of students, Balakrishnan has been analyzing airport operations. Air traffic controllers must routinely separate plane landings by a few minutes, and balance the need for safety with maximum efficiency. With departures, controllers attempt to respond to pilots on a first come, first served basis, but must pause for arrivals if runways are busy, and must juggle take"off order if planes are due at other airports. The current model for scheduling, called constrained position shifting, says Balakrishnan, has "been conjectured to have exponential computational complexity," and most important, does not seem the optimal method for controllers dealing with busy, real"time conditions. Balakrishnan has recently broken through conventional scheduling complexities. Her approach involves developing simple, practical algorithms that improve takeoff and landing efficiency while factoring in typical aircraft arrival and departure protocol, and weather, among other factors. She is now testing her own scheduling models at Boston's Logan Airport, at rush hour. So far, her team has achieved improvements in "runway throughput" equivalent to two"three extra flights per hour -- a 10"12% improvement in average flight delay. She is also working on reducing the amount of time planes spend waiting in departure queues burning fuel, a phenomenon resulting from saturation in ground traffic. In tests with Boston controllers, her team used color"coded cards to signal when planes should actually push back from the gate and fire up their engines. By manipulating pushback rates, says Balakrishnan, you can significantly decrease the amount of fuel burned, reducing CO2 and particulate release. Controllers also felt things "flowed better," she says. Next steps include a comprehensive evaluation of benefits, with an eye to developing "scalable control and optimization algorithms" for an increasingly busy aviation system. About the Speaker(s): Hamsa Balakrishnan received a B.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2006. Between May and December 2006, she was a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the NASA Ames Research Center. Her research interests address various aspects of air transportation systems, including algorithms for air traffic scheduling and routing, integrating weather forecasts into air traffic management and minimizing aviation"related emissions; air traffic surveillance algorithms; and mechanisms for the allocation of airport and airspace resources. She was a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award in 2008.Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

From Experimental Physics to Internet Entrepreneurship: One Scientist's Journey

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/07/2010 4:45 PM 10"250Dr. Charles C"Y Zhang, Ph.D. 94, Founder, Chairman CEO SOHU.COMDescription: Few better personify the vitality and ambition fueling China's economic surge than Charles C"Y Zhang. In this energetic and revelatory talk, Zhang relates his personal evolution from MIT physicist to leading Chinese entrepreneur. An industrious student from a poor family, Zhang was one of the fortunate few in his university to qualify for an education in the U.S. "In terms of IQ, I'm OK. Everywhere, smart kids were studying physics and math," he says. While completing a Ph.D. at MIT in the early '90s, Zhang discovered "the wonderland of computers." During post"doctoral research, he became involved in a program fostering MIT/China cooperation, and decided to make a career of the "two big trends of the time": an emerging China and the internet. "For a Chinese student in 1995, returning to China was considered crazy," says Zhang. He joined an internet company opening offices in emerging markets, and set off for China on his 31st birthday, committed to making "major changes in my life." With his MIT background, Zhang found he was well situated to "crack open the wall" in Chinese society and forge a path for this new company. But Zhang soon became restless, convinced that the internet could be more than just a means of communicating financial information. He set about raising money for his own startup, leveraging investment and help from such MIT friends as Ed Roberts and Nick Negroponte. In 1996, Zhang's new company, Internet Technologies China, went online, using China's first internet backbone (a $1000 PC running Linux). Zhang's directory of links as well as navigation assistance to sites on China's early internet, became SOHU.com in 1998 -- a company, Zhang proudly recounts, of many "firsts." It was China's first free and open website; the first Chinese company to use venture capital, and professional marketing. Says Zhang, "The first few years, I ran SOHU like a presidential campaign operation, and I became the digital power boy and messenger of China." Many internet entrepreneurs followed hard on Zhang's heels, and a group of companies now jockey for dominance in China. So Zhang is intent on recreating his company in the next two years, to establish unassailable market share in online video content, microblogs, and gaming among China's 400 million+ internet users. To achieve this, Zhang says he must inject "more technology genes" into the company, broaden management talent, and continue pushing China for judicial relief from intellectual property "piracy." Says Zhang, "We either become an internet giantor we will shrink into history. There is no middle position -- winner takes all." About the Speaker(s): Prior to founding SOHU.com, Charles Zhang worked for Internet Securities Inc. (ISI) and helped establish its China operations. Before that, he worked as MIT's liaison officer with China. Zhang has a Ph.D degree in experimental physics from MIT and a B.S. from Qinghua University in Beijing. In October 1998, Zhang was named by Time Digital as one of the world's top 50 digital elite. He has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader of Tomorrow. Zhang regularly participates in leading international conferences, including the Fortune Global 500 Forum, Fortune Magazine roundtables, and World Economic Forum meetings. In May 2003, Zhang joined the SOHU"sponsored China Mount Everest team to a height of 6,666 meters in an expedition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the tallest mountain's human conquest. Host(s): School of Science, School of Science

Re-Engineering Buildings: Innovations in Building Technology

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/01/2010 11:00 AM e14"633Tony Ciochetti, Chairman, MIT Center for Real Estate; John Ochsendorf, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture; Alex (Sandy) Pentland, PhD '82, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, and Director of Human Dynamics Research, MIT Media Lab; Sarah Slaughter, 82, SM'87, PhD 91, Associate Director for Buildings & Infrastructure, MIT Energy InitiativeDescription: The built environment consumes a very large share of the nation's energy, and so offers rich opportunities for reducing our overall carbon footprint. MIT researchers share innovations that could soon radically alter the energy profile, as well as form and function, of buildings. Their work may prove invaluable to those in the real estate or construction industries seeking not just efficiency, but a good investment. Pumping gas into a car, we can get a good sense of its energy costs, says John Ochsendorf. But when it comes to buildings, which are huge capital investments, "we have practically no literacy" around energy performance. Now we are entering a "new frontier," says Ochsendorf, as pressure builds to achieve substantial, swift reductions in energy consumption. He is helping to develop new metrics for measuring the amount of energy a building uses over its entire lifespan, from construction through many years of occupancy. Ochsendorf maps the material and energy flow involved in producing a can of Coke, from the extraction of minerals for aluminum smelting, to the French beets used in its sugar syrup, and suggests that this level of detail should be available for our buildings as well. This means "lifecycle assessment with rigorous benchmarking of building performance," down to the CO2 emissions per square foot. Ochsendorf is working with concrete and cement manufacturers to help them achieve steep reductions quickly, and to design buildings that use local waste material such as clay, and operate with zero net energy use. The value of buildings derives from their capacity to "protect and enhance the health, safety and well"being of occupants and communities," says Sarah Slaughter. There are measurable benefits, too: Acoustically quiet classrooms improve student retention, and reinforced buildings can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. Slaughter is interested in using "low impact development" for healthy, resilient buildings. She takes a "system of systems" approach, examining first the interaction of systems within a building. Could use of rainwater capture, for instance, decrease the need for non"potable water, or could "daylight harvesting" permit the downsizing of artificial lighting? Slaughter next considers the building's connections to the larger environment, including its neighborhood and region. She sees a "value"added chain" that ultimately includes municipalities and state and federal agencies. By targeting the right links in the chain, one can achieve both performance enhancement and cost efficiencies. This leads to "clearly demonstrable bottom"line benefits -- less than a year payback for some upgrades" as well as improved buildings that "allow people to complete their organizational missions more effectively." Alex (Sandy) Pentland hopes to make buildings more productive and efficient, but focuses on people rather than structures. He has devised methods for mapping human activities, following cellphone and other wireless signals. For example, Pentland can track face to face meetings taking place in an organization, and troubleshoot areas of low"productivity. He describes changing the time for coffee breaks in a Bank of America call center, and saving that business $15 million. He has detailed how "tribes" of people move about in cities, and can make astonishingly accurate predictions about where and when these groups go to eat and the kinds of things they buy. Real estate developers could look at transportation patterns, for instance, and build stores in places convenient to a target group. These tools are powerful enough to reveal socioeconomic patterns, such as crime rates, disease and even life expectancy among different groups. Data mapping, believes Pentland, will prove increasingly useful to many institutions, although it presents some perils around privacy issues. About the Speaker(s): Tony Ciochetti leads the Center for Real Estate's mission to improve the global built environment through industry relevant research and to promote more informed professional practice. Prior to his appointment at MIT, Ciochetti was the Director of the Center for Real Estate Development and a Professor of Finance at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Ciochetti is also a visiting Professor in the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge University in England. His teaching areas of expertise include Commercial Real Estate Development and Real Estate Finance. He has created or taught courses in these areas at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, the University of Wisconsin"Madison, Indiana University, and the University of North Carolina"Chapel Hill. Ciochetti's research interests lie in two broad areas: commercial mortgage credit risk and the role of real estate within pension plan portfolios. His work has appeared in leading scholarly journals, including Real Estate Economics, and the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, among others. Ciochetti is currently the President of the Real Estate Research Institute, where he is also an academic fellow, and serves on the Board of Directors of Real Estate Economics. Ciochetti received his B.A. in Finance from the University of Oregon, and both his M.S. and Ph.D. in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics from the University of Wisconsin"Madison. Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Center for Real Estate

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Why Chemomechanical Design of Materials is Critical to Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

03/30/2010 4:00 PM 3"270Krystyn Van Vliet, Ph.D. '02, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and EngineeringDescription: Our conversations on sustainable transportation typically begin with a review of vehicle efficiencies, and end with the characteristics of fuel, energy sources, and life cycle. In a remarkably novel approach to sustainable transportation, Krystyn Van Vliet discusses how other things matter too" namely the materials we build our bridges from, the infrastructure of the road, and of course, the tires we drive on. They are all parts of the sustainable equation. For the U.S. to achieve the reductions in C02 consistent with the 2050 Kyoto protocols, a substantial portion of that must be made by reducing the CO2 from the construction of highways and bridges. Vliet tell us that traditionally, materials used to build transportation infrastructures are high volume ones that are critical for their performance, but also for human life" they are grossly overdesigned in case of failure. Once the materials are proven and accepted" there is a long road to changing them" not unlike the road of the FDA approving a new drug. Van Vliet adds: " Since the materials are used in such large volumes why has there been relatively so little innovation in them? The main reason is that the materials are inexpensive. Because of their low cost, cost is not a strong driving factor." But, she says, "New approaches over the past few years allow us to innovate at the level of the nanoscale and provide high impact change". Beginning with rubber" which is used not only in tires" but also in seals, train bearings, and many other transportation components" Van Vliet demonstrates how the tools of nanoscience can be applied to discover rubber's macroscopic properties and map its polymer" particle matrix . Visual Information based on mechanical imaging of rubber at the nanoscale level reveals entirely new understanding. This understanding, in turn, can be used to fine tune the mechanical properties of rubber; for example, to produce it with different fillers, change the thickness of the materials, and its glass transition temperature points. Patents harnessing these innovations are underway. The case of cement is even more compelling, and like the rubber in tires, there has not been, until recently a lot of innovation around this material. Van Vliet describes it as the "utility of modeling such an old, dirty and not very interesting materials with a lot of atomistic power to make an interesting difference." The "DNA" of this material, reveled through nanotechnology, is suggesting entirely new ways of thinking about it. Cement is made up of three simple materials" calcium oxide, silica, and water. They mix to create what scientists call a gel. The pre"production process of calcination, and producing calcium oxide is the source of C02 emissions some sources estimate that as much as one ton of cement produces one ton of C02 emissions. Global emissions the from calcium oxide accelerate as India and China rapidly expand their infrastructure with concrete buildings and roadways. In both lab tests and simulations, Van Vliet and her colleagues have shown that it is possible to use less cement-- by achieving higher efficiency, and to mix the cement composition with other compounds. And, a "pie in sky" concept which could happen, is to infuse the cement with titanium dioxide, which would break down and scrub the air of gasoline emissions, and return a healthier, cleaner air. Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

Transportation in Contemporary Society: A Complex Systems Approach

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

03/09/2010 4:00 PM 3"270Joseph Sussman, J R East Professor of Civil and Environmental EngineeringDescription: In the nineteen fifties and sixties, students of transportation focused on building infrastructure and applied lessons from the physical sciences to designing mobility. Mobility was facilely linked to the engines of economic growth and expanding GDP. In time, that perspective was replaced by a focus on transportation systems and networks. There was a newfound emphasis on environmental impacts, land use, and intermodal freight. There was also a growing concern on unpriced externalities. Today, Joseph Sussman explains, with many of those problems still unsolved, transportation has entered a new phase-- a period of immense complexity or CLIOS, which stands for complex, large scale, interconnected, open and sociotechical is an acronym that is becoming the mantra of transportation engineers. While it is not as far"reaching as "chaos" to a physicist, it is an approach with far"reaching consequences for the transportation field. To participate in "Complexity 101" engineers must take account of stochastic systems, difficulties relating cause and effect, and non"linear behaviors. They must also recognize complex feedback loops between macro and micro issues; time scale anomalies, and evaluative complexity brought by new stakeholders. Sussman observes, " Even if we could wish away behavioral complexity, it would not mean that we know what we should do." He says that transportation engineering must now embrace management, the social sciences and planning and he warns us eschew narrow representations of complex systems because they are implicitly easier to solve. Sussman walks us through the new tools of math and advanced technology which have evolved with with CLIOS. In earlier times engineers could not respond with full information, disaggregate demand analysis, or real time operational data. He cites the need to apply these to find new solutions and designs--particularly ones that incorporate flexibility, reliability, and sustainability. Sussman terms these the "bilities". Taking flexibility as an example, he notes that some transportation providers, and particularly the airlines, are creating tailored and customized services for users. Sussman poses whether the concept of flexibility could be extended to highway travel and " pay as you go". Likewise, in automobile design, we are moving away from crash worthiness to a concept of crash avoidance. At a more macro level, Sussman says that we can now solve problems of a scale that seemed unthinkable 5 or 10 years, i.e., problems that were seen to be beyond our computational scope. Sussman observes a growing connection between economics and transportation. "We are moving toward a period where new technology and mathematical solutions allow us to better recognize and value previously un"priced externalities". Increasingly, he views transportation as a regionally scaled enterprise that can be managed at the scale of the metropolitan regional level. That aligns us, he says, with economists who have long talked about metro based regions as the economic engine of society. He also says there is a need for a large national vision on the scale of the one that created the national highway infrastructure. Sussman endorses the view that the American people yearn for a big vision and are tired of cycles of crisis and doom. Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

The Future of Civic Engagement in a Broadband"Enabled World

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

03/01/2010 4:00 PM Wong AuditoriumEugene J. Huang, Government Operations Director, National Broadband Task Force, Federal Communications CommissionDescription: The digital revolution that brought us Facebook, Twitter and YouTube could help revive participatory democracy in the U.S., says Eugene J. Huang. He unveils the FCC's plan for providing broadband access to every American, and describes how its recommendations could spur more open government and greater civic engagement. Huang is leading an FCC taskforce developing a plan to provide every American with high quality broadband internet capability. Mandated by the Recovery Act, $7.6 billion will soon flow to deploy infrastructure throughout the U.S., by cable, wireless, or satellite; to ensure affordable access for all; and to address a group of national priorities. Huang describes the process of fact"gathering, analysis and recommendation development as the "most open and transparent" in the FCC's history, involving public workshops, and the use of social media and blogs to encourage citizen input. This process in many ways has come to shape the larger goals of the broadband plan. As Huang says, at the end of months of data collection and public discussion, "we came to an obvious conclusionthat civic engagement is the lifeblood of our democracy," and that the broadband plan should play a major role in creating a more informed and engaged citizenry. Vast numbers of Americans are already online, talking, debating and viewing -- an astonishing 120 million people watch more than 10 billion videos monthly. So Huang, his taskforce, and citizen participants began envisioning ways that universal, high"speed digital communication and interactivity could work for the public sector. They ended up with five recommendations: building a more open and transparent government, by making all government and judicial records freely available online, and streaming government meetings and hearings; helping public media such as PBS and NPR expand beyond their broadcast models in providing news content, and removing copyright obstacles to sharing historic materials, ultimately leading to a national digital archive; deploying social media in all government agencies; recruiting technological innovators into government, engaging citizen experts from the private sector and starting an innovation corps; and bringing the election process into the digital age, eliminating mistakes in voter registration, standardizing the process across states, and enabling military personnel overseas to cast ballots electronically. While these measures will require a commitment across all levels of government, Huang feels sure they will lead to a transformation that can "renew democracy in a broadband enabled 21st century." About the Speaker(s): Eugene J. Huang is helping to craft the "national purposes" section of the National Broadband Plan, with a specific focus on the topics of government operations and civic engagement. From 2006 to 2009, Huang served at the US Department of the Treasury. He covered a wide range of international economic and finance issues with a special responsibility for U.S. bilateral relations with China. Previously, Huang was a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University. From 2002 to 2006, he served the Commonwealth of Virginia as the Secretary of Technology and previously as the Deputy Secretary of Technology. Huang was responsible for managing the state's award winning information technology reform initiative, fostered the development of advanced broadband communications, and facilitated the growth of emerging technology industries throughout Virginia. Huang graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a M.S. in Telecommunications Engineering. He received a Thouron Award from the University of Pennsylvania and studied at St. John's College, Oxford University, where he received a M.Phil., with distinction, in Economic History. Huang is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Center for Future Civic Media

Leading through Adversity

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

02/18/2010 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumPaul Sagan, President & CEO, Akamai TechnologiesDescription: Few companies have endured such hardship, or risen to such heights in a brief span of time as Akamai Technologies. Paul Sagantells how he became the CEO of this young firm, and helped it survive and then flourish despite "unimaginable adversity." Brought up in a Chicago newspaper family, Sagan trained for a life in journalism. He cut his teeth as a broadcast news producer and executive in the 1980s, and in the 1990s. He helped launch New York 1, a cable news network pioneering digital video technology, and later, an interactive TV project in Orlando that featured video on demand and customized newscasts. Over the years, says Sagan, he picked up critical lessons on running a business: Don't count on the permanence of any customer, job, or venture. He also "glimpsed the digital future," realizing that if "you married the interactivity and openness of the web with the bandwidth available from cableyou could change the way the internet worked." In 1997, Sagan met a group of MIT computer scientists, including Tom Leighton and Danny Lewin, who had the "crazy, big idea" of applying mathematics to improve internet performance. Businesses frustrated with breakdowns of fragile central servers could rely instead on a network of servers coordinated by sophisticated software. It was "air traffic control" for internet packets and routing. Venture capital money poured in, and Akamai Technologies was born in 1998, with Sagan as chief operating officer. But all was not well: While "everyone wanted a piece" of Akamai, the company was hemorrhaging funds. Then in early 2001, the internet economy burst, and Akamai's customers vanished. "We were feeling sorry for ourselves," says Sagan, who recalls laying off 2/3rds of the employees. "Then the unthinkable happened:" Danny Lewin died in the crash of Flight 11 on 9/11. "Few believed a business, especially ours, could survive a blow like that." Sagan was determined to shepherd the company through the twin disasters of economic collapse, and the loss of the "driving force" of Akamai's culture. He slowly rebuilt the customer base, focusing on selling services to larger corporations that promised greater stability. Some clients "turned out to be real businesses," such as Yahoo and Amazon. 2003 saw Akamai's first positive cash flow, and the first profits came a year later. As he closes the books on 2009, Sagan proudly cites revenues approaching $900 million. He's unshaken in his conviction that the "internet is the biggest business idea of our generation." Akamai, says Sagan, "will hopefully face a little bit less adversity" in its second decade. About the Speaker(s): Paul Sagan joined Akamai in October 1998. He was elected to the Akamai Board of Directors in January 2005, and became CEO in April 2005. Previously Sagan served as a senior advisor to the World Economics Forum, consulting on information technology in the corporate world. In 1995, Sagan was named President and Editor of New Media at Time Inc. He was a managing editor of Time Warner's News on Demand project, and a founder of Road Runner, the first broadband cable modem service. In 1991, Sagan developed NY 1 News, a cable network known for its use of digital video technology. Sagan is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, and he began his career in broadcast news at WCBS"TV in 1981. He is a three"time Emmy Award winner, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Global Leader for Tomorrow with the World Economic Forum. He is also a director of Massachusetts"based EMC Corporation. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Transportation Policy: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally and Walking the Talk

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

10/20/2009 4:00 PM 32"124Frederick P. Salvucci, '61, SM '62, Senior Lecturer, Center for Transportation and Logistics, MITDescription: Why do so many sustainable transportation programs turn out, like the Alice in the Wonderland parable to lead us down unexpected paths? Fred Salvucci observes that true sustainable transport requires making more than short"term fixes. A sustainable transportation program is built upon the pyramid of three "E"s: equity, environmental benefit, and economics. Maximizing on just one of these objectives imbalances the others, and leads to unintended and undesirable results. As a case in point, Salvucci notes that improvements in sustainable transportation can be made by either "fixing the automobile", or by "fixing the system." The "fixes" have included the mandate for improvement in CAFE standards, nationwide interest in adopting a California car standard, and the Cash for Clunkers program. These are all short"term responses as car ownership, and vehicle miles traveled continue to grow. Salvucci views public transport as a longer"term solution, and says that the government, universities, and other large employers have an important role in terms of turning the coin and incentivizing preferred modes of transport. He suggests that government policy and tax policies need to be aligned. He notes that transit resources need to be spread out widely and not benefit just a single region or provider. The early building of the National Highway System, a federal program that touched every state, received widespread support. Building a consensus for public transit and sustainable transportation policy is possible, just as it is "possible to sail against the wind". The state of Massachusetts and Boston, in particular, have shown this political leadership as Boston has managed to grow economically despite forgoing new above"ground freeways. A new initiative now exists in Boston, over the next five to 10 years, as all of the major bridges across the Charles River" with the exception of one" must undergo safety repairs. There will be an estimated 20% reduction in vehicle capacity, and together these bridges carry more traffic than the Central Artery. Salvucci urged planners at MIT to think of the Charles River Crossing project as a "pattern break-- an opportunity to demonstrate more sustainable transport modes in the face of the vehicle reduction. Boston and the MIT community have a new opportunity to undo the deeply embedded use of automobiles, provided we really believe, and wish to follow, the objectives of sustainable transportation. Host(s): School of Engineering, Transportation@MIT

Improving Your Commute

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Hari Balakrishnan describes three challenges that need to be met in using data to help commuters-pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers-reduce the time (and fuel) spent stuck in traffic.

Challenges in Nation Building

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

09/29/2009 2:30 PM 10"250President José Ramos"Horta, President, East Timor, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize LaureateDescription: At times humorous and defiant, JoséRamos"Horta describes nurturing the 21st century's first sovereign state through its formative years. The journey of East Timor from brutal Indonesian rule to fragile self"governance has involved Ramos"Horta in conflict and debate from the halls of the U.N. to the smallest villages of this tiny Southeast Asian island. He describes the scene in 2002, after two years of UN"supervised transition, when Indonesia handed off a nation it had governed by force for decades: "A human calamity -- close to 200 thousand people lost their lives." Another 200 thousand were forcibly displaced into West Timor. As it departed "in anger and frustration," Indonesia's military orchestrated the destruction of the nation's cities, roads, schools and clinics. "The economy was at a standstill," says Ramos"Horta. "We received barely a sketch of a state, a skeleton." The challenge of rebuilding East Timor is all the more daunting given "the psychological"emotional trauma of 24 years of violence." There are bitter disputes involving how to conduct a national process of reconciliation. Western ambassadors recently called on Ramos"Horta, "representatives of two countries most notoriousfor providing weapons and the red carpet treatment to the dictatorship of Indonesia." They advocated establishing an international tribunal to pursue crimes against humanity during Indonesian rule. Says Ramos"Horta, "Had I been in a bad mood, I would have said, 'Excuse me, the two of you are lecturing me on human rights and justice?'" Despite warnings from the U.N. that "lack of justice encourages impunity," he believes East Timor must travel its own path toward reconciliation. If East Timor set up such a tribunal, "Who would it start with -- Indonesia or the U.S., which provided weapons to Suharto, or Australia, or all of them at once?" He states, "If you pursue justice at any cost without being sensitive to the challenges and complexities on the ground, you undermine the incipient nation, democracy and justice." Today, when Ramos"Horta travels in the countryside, people don't want to discuss security and unity. Recounts Ramos"Horta, "They joke with me: 'Mr. President, we really like your road to peace, but we prefer a road to our village.'" He's now focused on providing his people with such essentials as clean water and electricity, and shoring up the nation's fragile social and economic institutions. "Let's put all the past behind us. Look after the victims, the wounded, in their minds, bodies and souls, build a country that is deserving of so much sacrifice. Chasing the ghosts of the past leads us nowhere," says Ramos"Horta. About the Speaker(s): José Manuel Ramos"Horta took office as the second President of East Timor (since independence from Indonesia) on May 20, 2007. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with fellow East Timorese Bishop Ximenes Belo for "sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people. " As a founder and former member of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), Ramos"Horta served as the exiled spokesman for the East Timorese resistance during the years of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (1975 to 1999). After East Timor achieved independence in 2002, Ramos"Horta was appointed as the country's first Foreign Minister. He served in this position until his resignation on June 25, 2006, amidst political turmoil. In July 2006, he was officially sworn in as the second Prime Minister of East Timor. On February 11, 2008, Ramos"Horta was injured when he was shot during an assassination attempt. Ramos"Horta studied Public International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law (1983) and at Antioch University where he completed an M.A. in Peace Studies (1984). He was trained in Human Rights Law at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg (1983). He attended Post"Graduate courses in American foreign policy at Columbia University(1983). He is a Senior Associate Member of the University of Oxford's St Antony's College (1987). Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship, Government, and Development in Africa

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2009 4:00 PM 34"101President John Kufuor, President of Ghana 2001"2009Description: After centuries of insufferable oppression by colonial powers, bloody independence struggles, and corrupt home"grown regimes, "Africa today is quickly awakening, and determined to mainstream itself in the phenomenon of the globalization process," says John Kufuor, who served as Ghana's president for two terms starting in 2000. Kufuor recounts how Ghana transcended its dark history to attain astonishing political and economic progress, establishing the nation as an exemplar for fellow African states. In a brisk history lesson, Kufuor accounts for the lag between Africa and other continents in socioeconomic development: geography kept Africa outside ancient trading routes, and when "marauding" Europeans eventually encountered Africa, it was "more or less a one"sided, institutional gang rape..." Denied citizenship and rights, for 600 years "the African ego and personality was assailed and trampled upon." Following World War 2, colonial powers relinquished their African holdings, but successor native governments were often little better, says Kufuor, spouting revolutionary rhetoric, and stifling "visionary individualism and creativity." State control meant "private capital formation went underground." African rulers maintained attachments to their "former European overlords," who imported Africa's resources "raw on concessionary terms." Kufuor blames the "stinginess" of foreign entrepreneurs, their unwillingness to "add value" to these products, for African nations' current paucity of medium and large"scale business. But Ghana's trick was to transform this disadvantage -- a large pool of small, agriculturally based businesses -- into the centerpiece of an economic revival. Kufuor cites in particular cocoa farmers, responsible for one of Ghana's principal exports, who own on average no more than three acres. When he arrived in office, Kufuor determined to support the "self"reliant, risk"taking initiative" of such farmers and other small"scale businesses, recognizing that they were key to "unleashing the potential wealth of the nation." His government pursued debt forgiveness by the IMF; separating the central bank from the president's office; and distributing more banking licenses and lowering lending rates. Aid to farmers with trading, modernization, irrigation, and other infrastructure led to unprecedented economic growth: the GDP quadrupled over an eight year period beginning in 2000, with growth at 7.3% last year. Government "had promised to usher the country into a golden age," says Kufuor, and came through not just with economic policies, but with investment in education and a national health insurance plan for all citizens. Two years ago, oil was discovered offshore, and Kufuor, "proud of having laid a solid foundation" for Ghana, prays that this find will prove "a blessing and not a curse, for the good of all our sons and daughters." About the Speaker(s): John Kufuor helped lead Ghana during its first peaceful democratic transition, focusing on modernizing agriculture, improving infrastructure and attracting direct foreign investment. Kufuor championed the nation's entrepreneurs, and promoted transparency in government. He is also a former chairperson of the African Union (2007"2008). In 2008, Kufuor became a partner in the World Food Programme's "Fill the Cup" drive to provide nutritious school meals to millions of hungry children. "Every nation's future rests on nutritious food and education for its children," he said. Kufuor earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Oxford University before becoming a lawyer. But he soon turned to politics, serving as member of parliament, deputy foreign minister and secretary for local government before becoming Ghana's president in 2000.Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship

Toward India 2020: Challenges and Opportunities

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

09/09/2009 11:00 AM Bartos theaterDr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Indian Planning CommissionDescription: People sometimes ask Montek Singh Ahluwalia questions loaded with "aspirational objectives," such as when India will "get rid of poverty." Few are as well equipped to respond as Ahluwalia, one of the architects of India's breathtaking economic transformation. The current income of an average Indian citizen is about 1/15th that of a U.S. citizen. Ahluwalia envisions increasing India's per capita income ten fold. He sees this as a matter of "simple arithmetic." To achieve this advance, India must sustain GDP growth of 9% a year (which corresponds to a 7%/year growth in personal income) -- for 32 years. By 2040, India's 1.5 billion people could be living more like Americans. "Regrettably, I won't be around to see it," says Ahluwalia. By 2020, though, assuming such sustained economic growth, he would be around to witness "more modest results." Indians would double their annual income to $6,600, and the nation would be able to "provide a basic level of services to the vast majority of its population," essentially leaving behind its problems of poverty. This kind of growth, "an extremely worthwhile objective" for India, would also leave its mark on the rest of the world. It would inspire other emerging economies, for one thing. It would also shift the balance of power in global trade, with the combined economies of India and China taking on the U.S. So can India really achieve this kind of relentless economic progress? Ahluwalia's not sure, but invokes the successes of Japan, Korea and China, and sees reasons for optimism. Over the past eight years, India's averaged a 7.2% GDP growth rate, and looks likely to land on its feet after the current worldwide recession. On the other hand, the nation's vibrant democracy (420 million voted in the most recent elections) can make agreement on economic policy and its implementation difficult. Ahluwalia is "not complaining," but acknowledges that this kind of participative society "means we're taking longer to get done what needs to be done." He sees institutional strengths that will enable India to push its development agenda forward: a sense of confidence pervades Indian society; past reforms have "unleashed tremendous energy in the private sector;" the economy has opened up to greater domestic and foreign markets; and in spite of changes in government, the general economic policies continue to evolve. Ahluwalia acknowledges that defeating poverty may not address everyone's goals for success. The true objective for India, he believes, is "inclusive growth," an equitable and constructive distribution of economic gains via market forces, government and public means. About the Speaker(s): Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also served as a member of the Indian Planning Commission and member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. He had previously held positions as Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Commerce Secretary; Special Secretary to the Prime Minister; and Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance. Ahluwalia became the first Director of the Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 9, 2001. On June 16, 2004, he was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission and was reappointed to the post in June 2009 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In 2007, Ahluwalia became a member of the Group of Thirty, an international body of the world's most senior and influential economists. He earned his B.A. (Hons) degree in New Delhi and his M.A. and M. Phil. degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. His published work includes papers in professional journals and contributions to books. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Global MIT

Catalytic Cracking

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:08:49 GMT

Associate Media Lab Director Andy Lippman challenges us to recognize common flaws plaguing all our institutions as a first step toward meaningful redesign.

Looking Ahead to 2020

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

06/16/2009 11:00 AM Wong AuditoriumWilliam Rouse, SM '70, PhD '72, Executive Director, The Tennenbaum Institute, ; Georgia Institute of Technology ; ; Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Executive Director, Transportation Research Board, National Academies; Joel Moses, PhD '67, MIT Institute Professor; Heinz Stoewer, Distinguished Visiting Scientist, Jet Propulsion Lab and Chair Emeritus, TU Delft; David H. Lehman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, The MITRE Corporation's Command and Control CenterDescription: Real"world practitioners of systems engineering/engineering systems describe how the young discipline has shaped their very large enterprises. For the past 10 years, David Lehman has been incorporating key systems engineering ideas within MITRE Corporation. Successes include getting project leaders to think about engineering solutions in the context of political and economic organization, and learning how to communicate these solutions better. MITRE has talked to defense acquisition managers in the field to extract data and create models that get disseminated to other managers. But Lehman is disappointed that Defense Department acquisition methods are still large"scale, and unresponsive to swiftly changing situations. He'd like to show program managers how "to step outside what they've been taught," and create incentives for doing the right things rather than "sticking with regulations." Robert Skinner, Jr. wonders if engineering systems approaches can help with some pressing questions: the way to mix transportation and land use decisions in urban areas, for instance, or government pricing strategies for surface transport. One nettlesome issue involves the right scope of analysis, says Skinner. Should researchers be looking at the components of the transportation system, or the whole enterprise? "As we move downward, uncertainty increases and the role of social systems and social science enters into it; politics upper and lower case becomes more significant." And he adds, "We're sorely lacking in analogs in the policy world to transmit complex engineering concepts. If analysis gets too far out ahead of the public's and decision"makers' ability to absorb it, it all comes to naught." "Why are so many complex systems behind schedule and over budget?" asks Heinz Stoewer. A single line of code missing can cause system collapse, says Stoewer. And big problems can flow from human shortcomings in calculations, accounting or risk management. Stoewer believes another reason for failure is that program managers and systems engineers "are too process focused," and not well enough aligned. They may lack sufficient depth in the key discipline of their projects, leading to faulty product design or production. To improve the chances of success, Stoewer emphasizes the importance of early phases: "I can tell you two dozen programs in trouble because they'remaking enormous efforts trying to get things right when they're almost done." br> By 2020, Joel Moses hopes that engineering systems will be recognized "as having made significant contributions" to health care, energy, environment, financial services and the military. To achieve such an impact, the field should focus on "maybe the key issue" of system architecture. Each engineering field thinks of architecture in different ways and groups must communicate better with each other. Moses believes educators should teach "what makes for a good system architect," and that "systems thinking is important, but not enough." A good system architect sees things holistically. Moses notes as well, "the difference between designing a one"off versus a family of systems." About the Speaker(s): Joel Moses has served as MIT's Provost, Dean of Engineering, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Associate Head of EECS, and Associate Director of the Laboratory for Computer Science. He was also instrumental in the conceptualization of a joint engineering and management graduate program, which is now the System Design and Management Program, and in creating the Engineering Systems Division. Moses is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and of the IEEE. He led the development of the Macsyma system for algebraic formula manipulation and is the co"developer of the Knowledge"Based Systems concept in Artificial Intelligence. His current interests include the complexity and flexibility of engineering systems, algebraic formula manipulation, and knowledge"based systems. Moses received his undergraduate degree and master's degrees in mathematics from Columbia University, and his doctorate in mathematics from MIT.Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

MIT Perspective on Engineering Systems

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

06/16/2009 9:15 AM Wong AuditoriumSubra Suresh, ScD '81, Dean, MIT School of Engineering; ; Yossi Sheffi, SM '77, PhD '78, Director, Engineering Systems Division, and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems Director, MIT Center for Transportation and LogisticsDescription: The field of systems engineering has only recently emerged, and as this symposium demonstrates, defies precise definition. But MIT has taken this evolving area to heart, nurturing a new division and encouraging a raft of ventures that in their execution, may help shape the field for the next century. An MIT freshman in 1900 had some very specific requirements to fulfill for graduation, and to prepare for a responsible role in society, says Subra Suresh. Courses included mechanical drawing, military science and rhetoric. These choices became richer over time, with the addition of hundreds of engineering faculty, dealing increasingly with the sciences. Suresh traces how over many decades an engineering concentration on metallurgy shifted from studying mining (iron), to aviation (aluminum), plastics, electronic materials and then biological materials. But at each step, he notes, MIT "always lagged behind about 10 years" in what it taught students." The Engineering Systems Division (ESD) is an attempt to "train people the right way." The curriculum brings the basic rules of nature into engineering practice, and applies discoveries to products and processes that impact people. Students must take into account the "long term societal impact." ESD is needed to link complex issues along technological and social dimensions. The modern engineer must create new ideas and technologies, and reinvent tools and technologies from earlier times -- as Suresh puts it, "Fix problems associated with the greatest achievements of the 20th century." Yossi Sheffi fine tunes the picture, enumerating the key domains under the ESD umbrella, as well as the approaches faculty have adopted, in research, teaching and real"world projects. The primary distinction between other engineers and ESD engineers, Sheffi notes, is that "we try to look at the big picture." So ESD focuses on critical infrastructure (water, transportation), such extended enterprise as supply chain management and global factories; energy sustainability and health care delivery. To get a handle on such unwieldy subjects, professors examine the human"technological interface, and delve into uncertainty, dynamics, design and implementation, networks and flows, and policy and standards. MIT's "engineers without labs" are seeking to "develop insights, principles and tools across all systems," forging partnerships in industry, around the world. ESD students and faculty must get out in the field, says Sheffi, not just to fulfill course requirements but in order to tackle significant global problems, and to find solutions that are sustainable in terms of social equity, economic development and environmental impact. ESD values and accepts "intellectual risk," meaning issues that may appear unquantifiable or vague, even without solution, and understands that problem solving means respecting and bringing together all disciplines, including the social sciences and management. About the Speaker(s): Subra Suresh joined the MIT faculty from Brown University in 1993. He has served as the head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and became Dean of the School of Engineering in 2007. His current research focuses on the mechanical responses of single biological cells and molecules and their implications for human health and diseases. Suresh has published more than 210 articles in journals, and is co"inventor of 14 U.S. and international patents. Suresh is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. His honors include the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar award from CalTech, the Brahm Prakash Visiting Professorship from the Indian Institute of Science, selection by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the most highly cited researchers in Materials Science, the Clark B. Millikan Visiting Professorship at CalTech, the TFR Swedish National Chair in Engineering from the Royal Instiute of Technology, Stockholm and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Yossi Sheffi is an expert in systems optimization, risk analysis and supply chain management. He is the founder and the director of MIT's Master of Engineering in Logistics degree. In 2003 he launched the MIT"Zaragoza program, building a new logistics university in Spain based on a unique international academia, government and industry partnership. Sheffi has authored many journal publications and two books, including The Resilient Enterprise:Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage (MIT Press, October 2005). He obtained his B.Sc. from the Technion in Israel in 1975, his S.M. from MIT in 1977, and Ph.D. from MIT in 1978. Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Opening Remarks and Keynote: Grand Challenges and Engineering Systems: Inspiring and Educating the Next Generation

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

06/15/2009 8:30 AM Wong AuditoriumJoel Moses, PhD '67, MIT Institute Professor; Daniel Roos, '61, SM '63, PhD '66, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems ; Charles M. Vest, HM, MIT President Emeritus and President, National Academy of Engineering; Dr. Susan Hockfield, President, MITDescription: It's a good thing for a world increasingly beset by mammoth challenges that universities are responding with new engineering systems programs. These initiatives, as Daniel Roos attests, are swiftly proliferating in the U.S. and abroad to equip students to address such complex issues as health care, sustainable energy, and infrastructure. Roos celebrates the fifth year of the Council of Engineering Systems Universities (CESUN), one of this symposium's sponsors, and recaps his survey of group members on the state of engineering systems education. While some traditionalists resist the interdisciplinary dimensions and broad compass featured so prominently in engineering systems programs, Roos believes that rapid global change necessitates corresponding change in how engineers are trained to think and practice. A case in point: a collapsing 100"year"old automobile and transportation system whose revival must incorporate complex, networked systems: intelligent infrastructure that can improve safety and alleviate congestion; and new, green, digitally wired vehicles integrated in a "smart energy net." Charles M. Vest tells his audience, "Your time has come," but warns that the U.S. lags dangerously far behind other nations in graduating engineers. Redesigning college"level engineering programs won't be enough to meet the "grand challenges" posed by our times, if more children can't be inspired to study engineering. The field lacks luster, and simply doesn't connect with young people, says Vest. "We have failed miserably in projecting what engineering is, what it can accomplish and what's exciting." The nation faces a great opportunity "to start rebuilding the economy based on real engineering innovations, to produce real goods and services, providing real value to people and society." Vest wants to draw young people to work "at the frontiers of technology." He notes a lot of interest in "tiny systems" such as biology, information and nano"technology. But "we need to worry" about the big macro systems of energy, environment, healthcare, manufacturing _"where the rubber hits the road between engineering and society." Vest wants to capture the passion of the next generation through some "soul stirring." Through a campaign involving government, industry, and media, Vest hopes to convince young people that engineers are vital to meeting the "Engineering Grand Challenges" of global warming and sustainable energy, improving medicine and healthcare delivery, reducing vulnerability to human and natural threats, and expanding and enhancing human capability and joy (a somewhat unusual category for engineers, Vest admits). Vest concludes with some personal comments about engineering systems, including anecdotes about Toyota's innovations in auto assembly; NASA's hard"won lessons in integrated design and manufacture of space"bound vehicles; and improvements in hospital care following simple changes integrated system wide. He sees the implosion of our financial system as an opportunity to study an incredibly complex human"technological system and set in place "at least an early warning system." Vest also finds cheer in the public's budding grasp of complex systems, as witnessed by increasing discomfort with fuel"based ethanol. About the Speaker(s): Joel Moses has served as MIT's Provost, Dean of Engineering, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Associate Head of EECS, and Associate Director of the Laboratory for Computer Science. He was also instrumental in the conceptualization of a joint engineering and management graduate program, which is now the System Design and Management Program, and in creating the Engineering Systems Division. Moses is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and of the IEEE. He led the development of the Macsyma system for algebraic formula manipulation and is the co"developer of the Knowledge"Based Systems concept in Artificial Intelligence. His current interests include the complexity and flexibility of engineering systems, algebraic formula manipulation, and knowledge"based systems. Moses received his undergraduate degree and master's degrees in mathematics from Columbia University, and his doctorate in mathematics from MIT. Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Global and Domestic Imbalances: Why Rural China is the Key

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

06/06/2009 10:30 AM Wong AuditoriumYasheng Huang, China Program Assc Professor of International Mgmt; Description: Contrary to popular thinking, China owes its astonishing economic expansion not to far"sighted government policy but to hundreds of millions of entrepreneurial peasants. Yasheng Huang's research reveals not only how small"scale rural businesses created China's miracle but how that nation's recovery from the global recession and righting the massive East"West trade imbalance depend on this same under"acknowledged sector. Huang begins with questions, including why China produces so much relative to its own consumption. He shows graphs dramatically illustrating the rise of China's GDP with a concurrent drop in domestic consumption. A nation that doesn't consume what it produces must export. Huang has pounded away at the question of this drop in consumption. He rejects explanations pointing at a Chinese bent for thrift, and believes instead that households have become impoverished in the midst of the nation's decades"long boom. Huang's research analyzed previously unexamined data to resolve this paradox and produce a novel thesis, detailing the rise and fall of rural entrepreneurship in China. In the 1980s, enabled by government liberalization, tens of millions of peasants began home"grown private businesses, from small"scale manufacturing to service delivery. They supplemented meager agricultural incomes, generating profits that they used to better their standards of living. The Chinese economy boomed. But in the 1990s, a new regime took over, taxing the grass"roots entrepreneurs and pouring money into infrastructure and state"run enterprises. Politicians imposed steep fees on education and healthcare, soaking the newly minted rural capitalists. GDP rose, but household incomes dipped, as hundreds of millions pinched pennies instead of generating profits. The Chinese made lots of things that they couldn't buy. A global trade imbalance ballooned. The recession has struck the rural Chinese especially painfully (they make up 70% of the nation's population). More than 100 million who had migrated to cities for work have lost their jobs with the shutdown of factories, and there has been a "virtual collapse in non"farm business income growth," says Huang. New Chinese policies have begun to attend to rural issues, such as abolishing rural taxation, reducing fees, and spurring microfinance. This should help increase household income. But in key areas like land reform, there's only been talk. Huang believes a Chinese stimulus package aimed at reinvigorating the building boom won't do nearly as much good for the economy as liberalization of social policies and attempts to unleash once again the productive energies of the rural poor. About the Speaker(s): Yasheng Huang teaches political economy and international management. In addition to academic articles, Huang has published Inflation and Investment Controls in China (1996), FDI in China (1998), Selling China (2003), Financial Reform in China (2005, co"edited with Tony Saich and Edward Steinfeld), and most recently, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics (2008). This book predicted and discusses in detail the current economic challenges facing China. It was selected by the Economist magazine as one of the best books published in 2008. Huang is currently working on a book examining consumption and urbanization in China. In addition, using newly"available household survey data, he is writing papers on rural finance and wealth creation and urbanization in China. Huang's China"India Lab aims to help indigenous entrepreneurs in China and India improve their management. He has received the National Fellowship at Stanford University and Social Science Research Council"MacArthur Fellowship. He is a member of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, a fellow at Center for Chinese Economic Research and Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, a fellow at William Davidson Institute at Michigan Business School, a World Economic Forum Fellow, and a non"resident fellow for the OECD's global development outlook project. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Sustainability: The Next Management Frontier, SESSION 4

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:56:50 GMT

Opportunities in Infrastructure and Built Environment Sarah Slaughter, Judith Layzer, Milton Bevington, Bill Sisson

"The New Epoch" and the 21st Century Imperative for Engineering History

Fri, 02 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

05/02/2008 2:00 PM Bartos theaterDavid P. Billington, Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering; Princeton University; Description: Great civil engineers finds an aesthetic appropriate for their building's material and structure, assertsDavid Billington, whose life work has been the study of some of the world's most stunning engineering feats. He reviews his own intellectual journey, first honoring some of his forebears, including Elting Morison, industrial historian and a founder of MIT's Program in Science, Technology and Society, and R. G. Collingwood, philosopher/historian. Billington describes a momentous turn in his career at Princeton, when architecture students in one of his courses rebuked him: "They told me, we hate what you're teaching us. ... You're teaching us stick diagrams and formulas. That's how you teach structural engineering. Why can't we study beautiful structures?" They showed him a picture of the Salginatobel Bridge, built by "an obscure Swiss engineer, Robert Maillart," about whom there was little published in English. This led to a major stretch of research by Billington, and opened up his lifelong interest in how great engineers delve deep into the nature of their building material, such as Maillart's reinforced concrete, and discover how to make it beautiful. In studying the work of Maillart and other European engineers, Billington learned that "truly great bridges are extremely interesting aesthetically." They often result from competitions, satisfying criteria of structural art while wasting neither material nor money. Says Billington, the engineers "get elegance out of discipline -- they find play within discipline." While most of Billington's admired bridges were built in the 20th century (by men born in the 19th), he also pays tribute to Christian Menn, designer of Boston's Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, completed in 2002 -- an asymmetrical cable stayed bridge that has become a regional landmark. "Basic form and structure comes from the engineer's imagination," says Billington, which puts engineers "far ahead of us academics, who often think we make innovations and explain them to practitioners." Menn and his peers are "out there doing art," and Billington's mission is to teach it. He gives his students a sense of how the engineer's mind works, by assigning students to build small"scale versions of structurally significant bridges. These models show up in art exhibits, and Billington shows many slides of such work during his talk. In a footnote, Billington discusses the dismal state of U.S. infrastructure, including the catastrophic failure of the Minneapolis bridge in 2007. This steel truss bridge, like so many in the U.S., was the product of an anonymous design process, says Billington, where bridges are copied decade after decade, in an "unthinking acceptance of designs that are already flawed." About the Speaker(s): David P. Billington is also Director of the Program of Architecture and Engineering at Princeton University. He is well"known at Princeton for connecting engineering to other disciplines within the University -- to the humanities, art, science and politics. Billington has taught perhaps 5,000 Princeton undergraduates since joining the faculty in 1960. He specializes in structural analysis and design with an emphasis on concrete structures, bridge design, thin shell concrete structures, and the history and aesthetics of structures as an art form. Billington's most recent publication is Power, Speed and Form -- Engineers and the Making of the Twentieth Century (with David P. Billington, Jr; Princeton 2006). He has written several books on Robert Maillart's work as well as on other aspects of structural engineering. Billington was a Fulbright Fellow, and won the 1992 George Winter Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has consulted for the State of Maryland on bridge design and for the State of New Jersey on highway accidents. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineering, among other professional affiliations. He has taught at Princeton since 1960. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Program in Science, Technology and Society

Building Responsive Cities: Technology, Design, and Development

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

04/04/2008 1:30 PM Broad InstituteDennis Frenchman, MCP '76, MAA '76, Leventhal Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Director, City Design and Development, MIT; Antonio di Mambro, '71, MAA '77, MCP '77, Principal, Antonio di Mambro+ Associates; Martha Lampkine Welborne, MCP '81, MAA '81, Managing Director, Grand Avenue Committee, Los Angeles; Tom Campanella, PhD '99, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillDescription: Even as new supercities pop up around the world, with populations in the tens of millions, urban planning remains stuck in an older time. As Dennis Frenchmansays, "Amazingly very little progress has been made ... We're using basically the models and methods of the 1920s." Frenchman says we need to confront the immense challenges of rapid urbanization, universal mobility sustainability and basic livability. Some emerging concepts include new century cities, where single "messy" mixed"use zones will house shopping, living, and commerce. He describes technology networks built into urban environments, producing streams of data that not only reveal how a city works, but allow better real"time management of systems. Cities will sense traffic flows and change street signage and lane markings accordingly. Smart cars will guide users to available parking. Public buildings will have changing faces. This "agile infrastructure has the potential to make day to day interactions more efficient and productive, but also more personal, because systems can interact with you and adjust to your desires," says Frenchman. Boston invests big"time in infrastructure, says Antonio di Mambro, but its transportation system is very "Boston"centric." He believes it's time to convert this system into a regional one, "tied to a new image of the city." Di Mambro is developing a new transportation network based on the area's "educational necklace," developing a West Station hub that connects universities to each other, and to the rest of the world. Di Mambro also describes how coastal cities should plan for global warming impacts. He describes Venice's strategic plan to defend itself from rising water, which includes massive mobile flood barriers, environmental restoration, economic development of neglected areas and green infrastructure. In the 1990s, Martha Lampkin Welborne became convinced that Curitiba, Brazil's public transit system would be perfect for LA. In this system, buses operate in dedicated lanes, with costs far less than those required for subway or even light rail. A nonprofit team "created the vision and sold it to everyone -- the MTA and the city." After this accomplishment, LA's mayor drafted her to create an economic center in a desolate city stretch. In re"imagining Grand Avenue, says Welborne, she has been transforming a physical vision into a reality, starting with a precise economic analysis, politicking with city and county officials and collaborating with Frank Gehry. "Without being hyperbolic, it's the greatest building boom in human history," says Tom Campanella of China's construction frenzy. Campanella marshals many astonishing facts to back up the statement: In Shanghai, more than 900 million square feet of commercial office space were added to the city between 1990 and 2004, roughly equivalent to 335 Empire State Buildings. Between 1985"1995 Shanghai's footprint and suburbs jumped from 90 to 790 square miles. China will end up with more than 1 billion people in its cities. We Americans must "learn humility," he says, in imagining urban planning for this scale of building boom, or establishing what constitutes good versus bad urbanism. About the Speaker(s): Lawerence Vale is the author or editor of six books examining urban design and housing. Architecture, Power, and National Identity (1992), a book about capital city design on six continents, received the 1994 Spiro Kostof Book Award for Architecture and Urbanism from the Society of Architectural Historians. Vale is also Co"Editor, with Sam Bass Warner, Jr., of Imaging the City: Continuing Struggles and New Directions (Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 2001), and co"editor, with Thomas J. Campanella, of The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover From Disaster (Oxford University Press, 2005), which was recognized as one of the "Ten Best Books for 2005" by Planetizen, the Planning and Development network. He attended Amherst College, and received the S.M.Arch.S. degree from MIT and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford. He has been a Rhodes Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow, as well as the recipient of the 1997 Chester Rapkin Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. He has taught at the MIT since 1988.Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

The Internationalization of Spanish Companies: Ferrovial, The Rise of a Multinational

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:00:00 GMT

02/28/2008 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumRafael del Pino, GM'86, SM '86, Executive Chairman, Grupo Ferrovial, S.A.Description: Move over, Italy. Rafael del Pino is here to claim Spain's rightful spot as a major European player in the global infrastructure market. Founded by del Pino's father in 1952 as a builder of sleeper cars for trains, Ferrovial has diversified into a conglomerate with a hand in construction, real estate, road building design and operation, water treatment and desalination, airport ownership and operation, among other activities, and with 104 thousand employees in 43 countries. Del Pino describes some of the milestones passed, and hurdles overcome, during Ferrovial's 50 years of expansive growth. The company's largest triumphs come from winning contracts in other nations: Ferrovial developed toll roads in Colombia, then Chile, and in 1988 bid on a huge ring highway around Toronto that involved committing 600 million Euros of Ferrovial's own money. Not all Canadians were receptive to a Spanish company building and running a road with electronic tolls, and indeed, when the system didn't work correctly at the start there was a great deal of public criticism, followed by a big fight with a new, opposition government. Ferrovial bought its first airport in northern Chile in the late 90s, "in the middle of a desert, with some copper mines around and not much else." They got the bid because of "a good relationship to the public works minister," and because no previous experience was required. In 2004, Ferrovial "became more courageous," and invested in the U.S., buying the Chicago Skyway from the city. Other acquisitions included a public works builder in Poland, and a joint venture in the U.K. with a company that runs three of London's Tube lines. Work with London's Tube lines made Ferrovial's acquisition of BAA (which runs Heathrow Airport) possible. Ferrovial, says del Pino, leverages airports as much as it can, and the BAA enterprise will leave Ferrovial with a net loss in 2008 of at least 300 million Euros, some of which flows from extensive renovations and rebuilding at a key terminal. Del Pino says the company's shares have fallen by half in one year as a result of this venture and that "we're being punished by uncertainty with BAA." He notes sarcastically, "This is how the market reflects our wonderful management skills." He's dug in for the long run, though. "We're a UK company based in Madrid." About the Speaker(s): Rafael del Pino currently leads Ferrovial, one of Spain's largest engineering and construction firms with a workforce of 100,000. Ferrovial is involved in construction projects throughout the world, including the designing, financing, building, operating and maintaining of toll roads running in the U.S. and Canada and the Chicago Skyway Bridge. In June 2006, Ferrovial acquired BAA, the company that owns London's Heathrow airport. Rafael del Pino has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Polit_cnica in Madrid and obtained an M.B.A. from MIT Sloan School of Management. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:00:00 GMT

10/22/2007 4:00 PM BartosCharles B. Perrow, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Yale UniversityDescription: It's time to trade in the Department of Homeland Security for a Department of Homeland Vulnerabilities, says Charles Perrow. At its peril, our nation "privileges terrorism over natural and industrial disasters." From Perrow's perspective, the U.S. landscape is riddled with "weapons of mass destruction:" chemical plants; vital infrastructure such as bridges and levees; aging nuclear power plants; large, centralized providers of energy, water and food, all of which are obvious targets for natural disasters, accidents or attack. "There are 123 locations in our nation where a vapor cloud released by an accident or terror attack could endanger over 1 million people," says Perrow. Freight trains loaded with poisons lumber through our cities every day. With global warming, storms, floods and fires are on the increase. And the internet is "held hostage to Microsoft's command of 90% of the operating systems that we use." This means hackers with malicious intent could subvert sensitive facilities like our power grid and infiltrate the U.S. military. We can't prevent and mitigate our way out of this fix, no matter what administration is in office, says Perrow, although he bemoans the enormous erosion of regulatory oversight during the Bush era. He proposes instead such steps as removing hazardous materials from major population centers; dispersing vulnerable populations; breaking up or decentralizing large organizations; and codifying these measures through stringent laws. This approach won't likely win him friends in places like New Orleans, a city he hopes will not spring back to its pre"Katrina size. Cities in risky areas should be downsized, and provided with multiple evacuation routes and redundant means of protection and emergency services. "If we rely only on a few, we will be in peril." He takes aim at defenders of big organizations, who say we need economies of scale to function in a global economy. "Bigger is not safer," says Perrow. The larger the manufacturing plant, or internet service network, the more concentrated the power, the more likely an accident of consequence is to take place. We need many smaller, interconnected facilities, which can provide adequate economic efficiency. Perrow cites some "baby steps" in the right direction -- laws mandating public disclosure and inventories of hazardous materials and processes, and the switch by manufacturers to less poisonous substances. But real results "all depend on politics." About the Speaker(s): Charles Perrow is an organizational theorist and the author of such books as The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters(2007);The Radical Attack on Business (1972); Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies(1984; revised, 1999); The AIDS Disaster: The Failure of Organizations in New York and the Nation (1990) with Mauro Guillen; and Organizing America: Wealth, Power, and the Origins of American Capitalism (2002). Perrow is past Vice President of the Eastern Sociological Society; a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavorial Sciences (1981"2, 1999); Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science; Resident Scholar, Russell Sage Foundation, 1990"91; Fellow, Shelly Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, 1995"96; Visitor, Institute for Advanced Studies, 1995"96, Princeton University; former member of the Committee on Human Factors, National Academy of Sciences, of the Sociology Panel of the National Science Foundation, and of the editorial boards of several journals. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Program in Science, Technology and Society

Engineering Systems Solutions to Real World Challenges in Healthcare

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:00:00 GMT

12/14/2006 4:00 PM E51-345Daniel Z. Aronzon, Pres. and CEO, Vassar Bros Med. Ctr; ; Nicholas Christiano, Jr., VP and CIO of Healthquest (parent company of Vassar Brothers); Stephen A. Katz, Chief Med Officer, Vassar Brothers Med Ctr. ; Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, and Visiting Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems DivisionDescription: The Rx for an ailing healthcare industry lies only partly with new technology, say these panelists, who report on their attempts to realize a streamlined vision of healthcare at their Hudson Valley regional hospital. Pediatrician and CEO Daniel Aronzon describes a set of organizational challenges his institution faces, including accountability, transparency, safety, capacity, efficiency and cost. Myriad small problems can add up to millions in losses, and an occasional but catastrophic error may drain hospital resources. Aronzon notes that in the U.S., 97 thousand people die in hospitals every year because of such mistakes as giving a chemotherapy drug the wrong way. To get a handle on the safety problem, Aronzon has tried to create -a non-punitive just culture," where employees who hurt patients by making -an honest mistake" are not punished. The hospital also invested in systems enhancements and prescription bar-coding technology to eliminate or mitigate such errors. To cut expenses, Aronzon tagged computerized IV pumps with RFID, which prevented hoarding by staff and unnecessary replacement of the pricey machines. He frets about the coming demand on healthcare as boomers age: -Can't you see it coming," asks Aronzon, imagining this scene: -What do you mean there's not enough nurses? I'll sit on the call bell till they all come!" After examining his hospital's business model, Nicholas Christiano says his team decided that the most robust area for change lay with nurses. -They're continually in motion," running back and forth dealing with non-clinical issues. The model is -crazy and doesn't work," says Christiano. The closest analogy to hospitals is the airline industry, where -if you make a mistake you have a catastrophic event," says Christiano. To avoid errors, the airline industry has an infrastructure -that can support and track everything in a real-time environment." Christiano proposed a wireless communication network for nurses, which he promoted through an internal marketing campaign as a way of easing nurses' workload and enhancing their interactions with patients. Despite all the technological advances, Stephen Katz believes healthcare is still informed by a 1950s culture. Medicine -hasn't had to deal with efficiencies other businesses have had to establish in the same years." But more so than other industries, -we're a people business -- people at their very worst and stressed out." The question, says Katz, is how to improve the lives of staff, with new systems and technology, -to bring them along with us for the betterment of the patients." About the Speaker(s): Irving Wladawsky-Berger is responsible for identifying emerging technologies and marketplace developments critical to the future of the IT industry, and organizing appropriate activities in and outside IBM in order to capitalize on them. He began his IBM career in 1970 at the Company's Thomas J. Watson Research Center. After joining IBM's product development organization in 1985, he continued his efforts to bring advanced technologies to the marketplace, leading IBM's initiatives in supercomputing and parallel computing. He has managed a number of IBM's businesses, including the large systems software and the UNIX systems divisions. He is a member of the University of Chicago Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratories and of the Technology Advisory Council for BP International. He was co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, as well as a founding member of the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A native of Cuba, he was named the 2001 Hispanic Engineer of the Year. Wladawsky-Berger received an M.S. and a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Opening Keynote and Keynote Interview with Jeff Bezos

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:00:00 GMT

09/27/2006 8:30 AM KresgeDr. Susan Hockfield, President, MIT; Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com; Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief and Publisher, Technology ReviewDescription: One of the web's master entrepreneurs has devised a novel way to expand his domain. Jeff Bezos explains how Amazon, already home to 59 million active customers worldwide, hopes to beguile increasing numbers of developers to use web services that the company evolved for its own operations. Bezos' plan involves renting out the -guts of Amazon" -- the servers and software code and networking behind the online shopping giant. He describes a trio of services. The first, Mechanical Turk, named for a 19th century chess automaton (actually run by a human) -makes it possible to encode human intelligence inside a software application," Bezos informs us. At Amazon, Mechanical Turk employs simple software to allow individuals to -vote" on product detail pages to help eliminate duplicate images and products. Work traditionally done by an in-house unit can be performed by a distributed group of Internet users, at their own convenience and for little cost. Bezos is making this software routine available to outsiders now, for such applications as podcasting transcription. Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) gives users access to Amazon's massive data storage capacity for an annual subscription fee. For small businesses worried about buying up to the next level of server capacity, S3 provides a welcome alternative, with its multiple data centers and relatively low cost, says Bezos. Businesses can also take advantage of this same digital network, through Elastic Compute Cloud, to run applications. This -allows for elastic scaling up" of computing tasks, says Bezos. Many organizations need to test for bugs as they take applications to larger scales, and would prefer not to commit new resources if they don't have to. They also may require only intermittent machine time. Amazon's computers stand ready to serve, at 10 cents per CPU hour, and 20 cents per gigabyte of data transferred, says Bezos. People are excited, says Bezos, -because they see a hint of what the future may be." The reality of taking an idea to a successful product involves lots of obstacles -- what Bezos describes as -undifferentiated, heavy-lifting infrastructure." This -muck" has to be of the highest quality, and often costs an arm and a leg. Amazon's web-scale computing enables users -to get rid of as much of the muck as possible," says Bezos. About the Speaker(s): In 1994, Jeffrey Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc., now the leading online retailer, with 59 million active customer accounts and 10 billion dollars in 2006 sales. Bezos graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University in 1986. After college, Bezos joined FITEL, a high-tech start-up company in New York building a network to conduct international trade. Two years later, Bezos began working for Bankers Trust Company in New York, where he led the development of their computer systems and became the company's youngest vice president in 1990. From 1990 to 1994, Bezos worked for D.E. Shaw & Co where he helped build one of the most technically sophisticated quantitative hedge funds on Wall Street.Host(s): Office of the Provost, Technology Review

Planning After Katrina: What Have We Learned so Far?

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:00:00 GMT

09/21/2006 6:00 PM Bartos TheaterRachel Bratt, Tufts University; Philip Thompson, MIT; Jon Whitten, Tufts University; Stephen Villavaso, AICP; Peter Lowitt, AICP; Lawrence Vale, SM '88, Professor and Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT School of Architecture and Planning; Jerold Kayden, Harvard University; Susan Fainstein, PhD '71, Harvard UniversityDescription: An air of frustration and anger pervades this panel, which examines the progress of recovery efforts in New Orleans a little more than a year after Hurricane Katrina. Stephen Villavaso returned to his home 20 days after the disaster to fetch his abandoned cat. -I don't think New Orleans was a city at that pointThere was no communication system, no infrastructure, no potable water, no drainage, no government, nowhere to get food. It was a military state." He is rebuilding his house now, and is deeply involved in broader planning projects. Problem is, Villavaso says, there are many, many layers to -this planning cake." There are state agencies, a mayoral commission, city council efforts _ -top down planning, bottom up planning, a blizzard of planning." But none of this -has any legal basis whatsoever." A glimmer of hope lies in private foundation attempts to create a unified planning process. Yet this is -not the kind of master plan citizens of New Orleans have in mind," says Villavaso, since it falls short of laying out a blueprint for concrete next steps. J. Philip Thompson finds it -frankly amazing, embarrassing and outrageous that after the largest national disaster in 100 years in a city that we're talking about a $3.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation as critical to pulling together planning for a major city." He places New Orleans' situation in a broader political context, one of public hostility toward urban funding. Thompson finds -barely concealed racial undertones of wasting money on an urban population, poor people, and people of color who don't deserve it." So money has dried up for city planning, leaving New Orleans in a particularly vulnerable spot. Community participation -is largely a faade," since a genuinely inclusive process would mean reaching out to widely dispersed New Orleanians, and such a process would be -hugely expensive." Those involved in planning may be vulnerable -to misrepresentation and manipulation" by others with greater means. Above all, Thompson wishes the planning process would aim beyond housing and social services, and seize on a -great opportunity to break the cycle of poverty." He imagines education and training boot camps, and efforts to link citizens to jobs with opportunities for advancement. Jon Witten urges skepticism in evaluating all land use plans, not just those for recovery in New Orleans. -Land development in the absence of comprehensive planning programs results in anarchy benefiting only those with vested interests in rebuilding," he says. In New Orleans, planning must avoid sole source contractors and the formation of elite committees. Witten is wary of trendy terminology -that sounds like one thing but perhaps means another." -New urbanism" and -smart growth" don't guarantee intelligently designed neighborhoods or avoidance of sprawl, and efforts must be made -to respect historical development patterns" as well. About the Speaker(s): Stephen Villavaso, AICP, President of the APA's Louisiana chapter, whose firm has been recently selected to coordinate the various neighborhood plans for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Professor J. Philip Thompson, MIT Leader of MIT's efforts in community revitalization and economic development in New Orleans Professor Jon Witten, AICP, Tufts University Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Policy Moderator: Professor Susan Fainstein, Harvard University Professor of Urban Planning Host(s): School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Reflections on the Big Dig

Tue, 30 Mar 2004 05:00:00 GMT

03/30/2004 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumFrederick P. Salvucci, '61, SM '62, Senior Lecturer, Center for Transportation and Logistics, MITDescription: Sometimes good projects go bad, and other times, a bad project turns out well. Few people can pass such judgments better than Fred Salvucci, who was a key instigator of Boston's "Big Dig" project. This behemoth of civil engineering, first imagined in the 1970s, involved eliminating a crumbling and congested elevated highway that rammed through the heart of Boston. The new design called for an underground highway that would improve traffic gridlock, at a cost of 6 billion, with an estimated completion date of 2000. Nearing completion in late 2004, the Big Dig's price tag is around $15 billion. What went wrong? Salvucci lays out a cautionary tale for planners: "policy blunders" permitted a four-year delay while people debated the aesthetics of a bridge crossing the Charles River; intelligent transportation technology emerged and had to be added on to the design; and worst, ballooning costs were disguised by deferring items like upkeep. "We may need gondolas because without maintenance, (the highway) may flood," says Salvucci. For a brighter ending, Salvucci cites the Boston Harbor clean up. Faced with a court order, absence of federal funding, and with what Salvucci calls "absurd standards" (those normally applied to rivers used to supply drinking water), the project managed to stay within its $6 billion budget and finish on time. Says Salvucci, "I doubt there's as well implemented a project in the U.S. as what was pulled off with the Boston Harbor clean up." About the Speaker(s): Frederick Salvucci served as transportation advisor to Boston Mayor Kevin White between 1970 and 1974, and then as Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis between 1975 and 1978 and again from 1983 to 1990. In those roles he has participated in much of the transportation planning and policy formulation in the Boston urbanized area and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts over the past 20 years. More recently, he has participated in a restructuring of commuter and rapid transit services in Buenos Aires, Argentina; helped review the transportation planning process in US metropolitan areas; and worked on the development of a new transit system for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Salvucci received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT. He spent a year at the University of Naples as a Fulbright Scholar from 1964 to 1965, studying the use of transportation investment to stimulate economic development in high poverty regions of Southern Italy. Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Cities and Resurrection: Jerusalem and Us

Wed, 11 Sep 2002 04:00:00 GMT

9/11/2002, 5:30, 1-190 Julian Beinart The presentation is a case study of Jerusalem, the most destroyed and rebuilt city in history, and a major site for the three great monotheistic religions which are now adhered to by more than half the religious population of the world. Basic ideas of loss and restitution are briefly examined in the stories and laws of the Jewish, Christian and Moslem texts, as well as in some writing in psychiatry, and in the eschatologies arising from Jerusalem in particular. Some of these are then applied to four case studies of major shrines in Jerusalem: the built and imagined Temples of the Jews, destroyed and never rebuilt; the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre, frequently destroyed but constantly rebuilt; the Moslem buildings on the Haram-al-Sharif, threatened but never destroyed by human hands; and the Hurva synagogue, twice destroyed, and as of yet not rebuilt but involving important design proposals by famous architects over the past 25 years. Finally twelve general principles of the resilience of buildings are put forward, derived from both the religious and architectural evidence of Jerusalem. School of Architecture and Planning, Joint Program in City Design and Development T12605

Fires, Earthquakes, Modernization and Air Strikes: The Destruction and Revival of Japan's Cities

Mon, 06 May 2002 04:00:00 GMT

05/06/2002, 5:30, 10-485 Carolina Hein Natural disasters, fires, and earthquakes, destroyed Japan's cities in whole or in part on numerous occasions over the last centuries. Human intervention, political change, modernization, and the air raids of the Second World War brought about further destruction and promoted the transformation of the Japanese city in the 19th and 20th centuries. Carola Hein argues that the traditional patchwork character of Japanese cities allowed for flexibility in their transformation, and that many traditional features of Japanese urbanism survived in spite of the obvious changes. The reconstruction of Japanese cities was generally left to private initiative and comprehensive centralized planning intervention, and only occurred when and where the cities had to be adapted to political, economic, social and cultural changes. School of Architecture and Planning, Joint Program in City Design and Development T11511

Patriotism and Reconstruction: Washington, DC after Conquest and Arson during the War of 1812

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 04:00:00 GMT

04/08/2002, 5:30, 10-485 Anthony S. Pitch The 24-hour occupation of the nation's capital by British forces during the War of 1812 was arguably the lowest point in American history. The President fled to Virginia hours before the invaders torched the White House, Capitol, State and War Departments, and the Treasury. The colossal buildings that represented the hopes and aspirations of the young Republic were now wizened and hollow in what was nothing more than a 14-year-old glorified village, with 8,000 residents. It should have doomed the infant capital to instant oblivion, with many claiming the moment was opportune to relocate to Philadelphia or elsewhere to save the cost of rebuilding. But a surge of patriotism followed the heroic defense of Fort McHenry, the birth of the anthem, and a monumental victory over the British at New Orleans. It reinvigorated those in Congress invoking the memory of George Washington, who had personally selected the site for a capital and marked the locations of its major public buildings. Local businessmen overcame Congressional critics citing post-war depleted Treasury coffers, by proffering bank loans to fund the costly estimates. Yet even though Washington won the vital reprieve as America's capital, rebuilding would be halting and arduous, slowed and marred by squabbling over designs, construction material, a paucity of creative artists, and financial restraints. But the monumental buildings would rise again, with legislators reconvening in even more splendid comfort, due in no small measure to a President who micromanaged, keenly aware that a rebuilt White House and Capitol would be symbolic of national resilience and unity. School of Architecture and Planning, Joint Program in City Design and Development T11296

Beirut, Beirut

Mon, 01 Apr 2002 05:00:00 GMT

04/01/2002, 5:20, 10-485 Hashim Sarkis Through a series of cases in the history of the reconstruction of Beirut (from 1990 to the present), Hashim Sarkis illustrates a number of points and characteristics about Beirut's resilience. The type of resilience that Beirut exhibits is shaped to a great extent by its disproportionate scale in the economy and politics of the country. It is more "Beirut, Beirut" than "Beirut, Lebanon." Reconstruction is more time consuming than destruction, and by the time we get to the reconstruction of buildings, their place in both memory and in space usually shifts. There is also considerable tension between architecture and infrastructure when it comes to reconstruction, and infrastructure usually wins. The historical burden of preservation overwhelms the first phases of reconstruction and tends to dim innovative design thinking in the later stages. Different approaches (restoration, renovation, rehabilitation) and mechanisms (private, public, collaborative) coexist in a competitive manner. There is a lag effect between the planned and the unplanned aspects of reconstruction, a dynamic that is often stronger than either one. Places hold a strong character that survives destruction, but character is not always expressed in physical form. While the marks on destruction appear strongest in architecture, the expressions of continuity, reconciliation, and resilience are stronger (and more effective) in other media such as novels (e.g. Beirut, Beirut; The Water Ploughman) and films (e.g.: Beirut ya Beirut; West Beirut). School of Architecture and Planning, Joint Program in City Design and Development T11206

When to Seed, When to Harvest: The Four Quads of Innovation, Growth

Wed, 20 Feb 2002 05:00:00 GMT

02/20/2002, 4:00 PM, Wong Auditorium Michael L. Eskew Under Michael Eskew's direction, UPS is expanding its emphasis on developing new lines of business that complement the company's core package operations. Driving this initiative, he oversees efforts to integrate technology into UPS's physical infrastructure to create business opportunities for customers and help ensure the company's leadership position in the new age of global commerce. In this talk, Eskew provides an overview of UPS's history, details the "scan it once" approach to package delivery, and explains UPS's dynamic partnerships with major US corporations. Vice President Resource Development, Industrial Liaison Program T10952, T10953

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