Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required Limited to 35 participantsAttendance: Participants must attend all sessionsPrereq: Matrix MathematicsBig Data describes a new era in the digital age where the volume, velocity, and variety of data created across a wide range of fields is increasing at a rate well beyond our ability to analyze the data. Machine Learning has emerged as a powerful tool for transforming this data into usable information. Many technologies (e.g., spreadsheets, databases, graphs, matrices, deep neural networks, ...) have been developed to address these challenges. The common theme amongst these technologies is the need to store and operate on data as tabular collections instead of as individual data elements. This class describes the common mathematical foundation of these tabular collections (associative arrays) that apply across a wide range of applications and technologies. Associative arrays unify and simplify Big Data and Machine Learning. Understanding these mathematical foundations allows the student to see past the differences that lie on the surface of Big Data and Machine Learning applications and technologies and leverage their core mathematical similarities to solve the hardest Big Data and Machine Learning challenges.This interactive course will involve significant interactive student participation and a small amount of homework. Those students who fully participate and complete the homework will receive a certificate of completion.The MIT Press book "Mathematics of Big Data" that will be used throughout the course will be provided.E-mail the instructor to sign up.Instructors:Hayden Jananthan - Research Scientist MIT Supercomputing Center - hayden.jananthan@ll.mit.eduJeremy Kepner - Fellow & Head MIT Supercomputing Center - kepner@ll.mit.eduSignup Deadline: Dec 15

In this IAP series, you will learn how to design, test, and iterate your own puzzle box while exploring what makes puzzles fun, challenging, frustrating, and/or rewarding. No previous experience with puzzles, engineering, or modeling is needed. We will provide supplies for prototyping and an introduction to digital prototyping.Registration will be capped at 15 participants. Please only RSVP if you plan on attending most of the sessions.Series Schedule (Subject to Modification)In-Person Sessions are 10am-11:30amOnline sessions are 10am-11amWeek 1Monday 1/5: In-PersonExplore a variety of puzzle boxes while exploring goals, challenge level, and design decisionsBegin to brainstorm and outline ideas for your own puzzle boxTuesday 1/6: VirtualShare and discuss initial design ideasExplore common mechanisms, signposting, and how to systematically add complexityWednesday 1/7: VirtualBegin prototyping puzzle boxes and experimenting with mechanismsExplore how to effectively user-testThursday 1/8: ZoomIntroduction to designing puzzles digitallyFriday 1/9: In-PersonBuild and feedback sessionWeek 2Wednesday 1/14: VirtualDesign check-in (Note time of this session may change)Week 3Wednesday 1/21: In-PersonTesting and iterationFriday 1/23Present and play test your puzzles

Hiroko Matsuyama, an accomplished instructor of the Ohara school of Ikebana, will show students the basics of this ancient art as they create their own flower arrangements.

Time: 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT)Location: Pasadena, CA

The irony of artificial intelligence is that it often reveals more about human intelligence than machines themselves.From AI in the home to robots in the workplace, the presence of AI all around us compels us to question its potential and recognize the risks. What has become clear is that the more we advance AI technology and consider machine ability versus human ability, the more we need to mind the gap.Researchers at MIT have been at the forefront of this evolving field. The work presented in this exhibition builds on the pioneering contributions of figures such as Claude Shannon and Seymour Papert, while highlighting contemporary research that spans computer science, mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and the social sciences.As research probes the connections between human and machine intelligence, it also underscores the profound differences. With AI now embedded in everyday life — from smart assistants in our homes to robots in the workplace — we are challenged to ask critical questions about its potential, its risks, and the boundaries between machine ability and human capability.Join us in shining light on the tremendous promise, unforeseen impacts, and everyday misconceptions of AI in this riveting, interactive exhibition.Learn more about the exhibition.

Imagine different worlds in Cosmograph: Speculative Fictions for the New Space Age, an exhibition that brings art and science together to examine possible futures where outer space is both a frontier for human exploration and a new territory for exploitation and development by private enterprise.We are living at the dawn of a New Space Age. What will the future hold? Will space elevators bring humanity's space junk to turn it into useful material here on Earth? Will asteroid mining be the next frontier in prospecting? Will the promise of geo-engineering turn into a nightmare of unintended consequences?Explore these possibilities and more in our new exhibition that blurs the lines between fact and fantasy, and art and science.