On view October 1 -- December 11, 2025This exhibition draws on archival materials from the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC) to explore a century of cultural heritage preservation in Aleppo, Syria. It takes as its point of departure the work of Kamil al-Ghazzi (1853–1933), the pioneering Aleppine historian whose influential three-volume chronicle, Nahr al-Dhahab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab (The River of Gold in the History of Aleppo), was published between 1924 and 1926.Ink, Stone, and Silver Light presents three modes of documentation—manuscript, built form, and photography—through which Aleppo’s urban memory has been recorded and preserved. Featuring figures such as Michel Écochard and Yasser Tabbaa alongside al-Ghazzi, the exhibition traces overlapping efforts to capture the spirit of a city shaped by commerce, craft, and coexistence. At a time when Syria again confronts upheaval and displacement, these archival fragments offer models for preserving the past while envisioning futures rooted in dignity, knowledge, and place.

Congratulations—you’ve got research data! This session will walk you through the dos and don’ts associated with research data and artifacts, all of those associated bits of information necessary to understand research data. These can include structured data, images, unstructured data, metadata, analysis scripts, analysis environment, and much more. We’ll cover the tools and resources available to you for making decisions about your research data (and associated bits) with regard to use agreements, security requirements, and copyright and licensing. We’ll also explore some case studies and do a practical applications exercise.

Hoping to secure funding for international research in the social sciences or humanities? This skill-development seminar is designed to help you craft persuasive funding applications. Open to PhD students and anyone interested in international research funding, this seminar unpacks what makes proposals stand out—from aligning your project with funders’ priorities to clearly communicating your research goals and expected impact. Experienced MIT faculty will share their practical strategies and discuss how to avoid common pitfalls. Strengthen your proposal-writing toolkit and connect with others pursuing global research! This session will be particularly useful for PhD students considering applying for the CIS PhD research grants, with proposals due in March 2026.Gabriella Carolini is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and International Development in DUSP at MIT, where she leads the City Infrastructure Equity Lab. Her research focuses on the governance and planning of infrastructure development across urban communities in the Americas and Africa. She has published a book on her research, and her articles appear in leading journals.Evan Lieberman is Professor of Political Science at MIT, where he holds the Total Chair on Contemporary African Politics. He is the director of MIT’s Center for International Studies, Global Diversity Lab, and MISTI. His research on South Africa, Brazil, and India has been published in three books and numerous journals.This seminar will be held in E53-482 (Millikan Room). Lunch will be available. Please RSVP here.Contact Kate Danahy at kdanahy@mit.edu with any questions.This event is part of the CIS Global Research & Policy Seminar Series. Join our mailing list here to learn about upcoming seminars in the series.

Date: Monday, October 20, 2025 Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Location: Seminar Room 3189Title: From Genes to Circuits: Spatial Learning and Decision Making In Fruit FliesAbstract: We study how genes and neural circuits control spatial learning and decision making in Drosophila. How animals navigate spatial learning tasks in environments lacking visual landmarks remains poorly understood. We use a high-throughput spatial learning task to investigate this question in Drosophila and found that Drosophila can simultaneously use self-generated olfactory cues and self-motion cues to learn a spatial goal under visually deprived conditions. We use Drosophila selection of egg laying site as a model to study how natural genetic variations shape the value-based decision making. While laboratory flies reject sucrose in favor of a plain substrate for laying eggs, a wild-caught African strain accepts sucrose. We identified the genes, neurons, and circuit that underlie the strain differences in behavior, illustrating how subtle gene regulatory polymorphisms reshape neural computations to drive adaptive variation in decision-making.Bio: Rebecca Yang is currently Associate Professor at Duke University in the Department of Neurobiology. She obtained her PhD from Stanford University studying mechanisms governing planar cell polarity in the Drosophila compound eye. She conducted her postdoctoral training in UCSF, where she used Drosophila egg-laying site selection as a system to study simple decision-making processes. In her own lab, she investigates how genes and circuits, including natural genetic variations, control learning and decision making combining various high-throughput behavioral assays with transcriptomic, optogenetic, and in vivo imaging approaches.

Speaker: Kate Gilbert, Executive Director Boston Public Art TriennialRespondent: Garnette Cadogan, Tunney Lee Distinguished Lecturer in Urbanism, MITThis is part of the CDD / LCAU lunchtime lecture series. Lunch will be served