A celebration of creativity and community at MITArtfinity is a new festival of the arts at MIT featuring 80 free performing and visual arts events, celebrating creativity and community at the Institute. Artfinity launches with the opening of the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building on February 15, 2025, continues with a concentration of events February 28-March 16, and culminates with the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts public lecture by 2025 recipient artist and designer Es Devlin on May 1, 2025, and a concert by Grammy-winning rapper and Visiting Professor Lupe Fiasco on May 2, 2025. Artfinity embodies MIT’s commitment to creativity, community, and the intersection of art, science and technology. We invite you to join us in this celebration, explore the diverse events, and experience the innovative spirit that defines the arts at MIT.About the Artists Artfinity features the innovative work of MIT faculty, students, staff, and alumni, alongside guest artists from the Greater Boston area and beyond.About the Activities & Events All 80 events are open to the public, including dozens of concerts and performances plus an array of visual arts such as projections, films, installations, exhibitions, and augmented reality experiences, as well as lectures and workshops for attendees to participate in. With a wide range of visual and performing arts events open to all, Artfinity embodies MIT’s commitment to the arts and the intersection of art, science, and technology.About the Presenters Artfinity is an institute-sponsored event organized by the Office of the Arts at MIT with faculty leads Institute Professor of Music Marcus Thompson and Professor of Art, Culture and Technology Azra Akšamija. Departments, labs, centers, and student groups across MIT are presenting partners.Visit arts.mit.edu for more information about the arts at MIT.

February 26, 2025 - July 17, 2025Hidden within MIT’s Distinctive Collections, many architectural elements from the earliest days of the Institute’s architecture program still survive as part of the Rotch Art Collection. Among the artworks that conservators salvaged was a set of striking windows of gypsum and stained-glass, dating to the late 18th- to 19th c. Ottoman Empire. This exhibition illuminates the life of these historic windows, tracing their refracted histories from Egypt to MIT, their ongoing conservation, and the cutting-edge research they still prompt.The Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130) is open Monday through Thursday, 10am - 4pm, excluding Institute holidays.

Speaker: Mo ChenTitle: New Regimes for Topology Optimization in PhotonicsZoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91981902244

Tuesday 12:00-1:00 EDT, April 22, 2025 live stream via Zoom: Registration requiredAbstract:Transformers are the dominant architecture for language modeling (and generative AI more broadly). The attention mechanism in Transformers is considered core to the architecture and enables accurate sequence modeling at scale. However, the complexity of attention is quadratic in input length, which makes it difficult to apply Transformers to model long sequences. Moreover, Transformers have theoretical limitations when it comes to the class of problems it can solve, which prevents their being able to model certain kinds of phenomena such as state tracking. This talk will describe some recent work on efficient alternatives to Transformers which can overcome these limitations.Bio:Yoon Kim is an assistant professor at MIT EECS and a principal investigator at CSAIL, where he works on natural language processing and machine learning. He obtained his Ph.D. in computer science from Harvard University.

Zoom link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92562397534----- Speaker: Gasser ElbannaAffiliation: McDermott LabTitle: Modeling Continuous Speech Recognition to Understand Contextual Effects in Human Speech PerceptionAbstract: Humans excel at transforming acoustic waveforms into meaningful linguistic representations, despite the inherent variability of speech signals. The perceptual and neural mechanisms that enable such robust perception remain unclear. Progress has been limited by the lack of 1) stimulus-computable models that replicate human behavior and 2) large-scale behavioral benchmarks for comparing model and human speech perception. I will present our work on developing candidate models of continuous speech perception along with new behavioral experiments to compare phonemic judgments in humans and models. Our models reproduce patterns of human responses and confusions, and by manipulating the model’s access to past and future speech input, we are testing the role of context in shaping human speech perception.Bio: Gasser is a second-year PhD student in the Speech and Hearing, Bioscience and Technology (SHBT) program at Harvard University. He works with Josh McDermott at the Laboratory for Computational Audition at MIT. His research aims to understand how the brain dynamically perceives, encodes, and integrates speech information over time, thereby unraveling the perceptual and neural foundations of auditory intelligence.

"The Right Problem to Solve" with Christine Taylor-ButlerAbout the presentation: A recent survey shows the US ranks 36th in global literacy. While serving on MIT's Educational Council, Christine saw a growing number of urban and rural students entering 12th grade without the appropriate skills. She wondered: what if you took literacy and STEAM concepts and embedded them in an epic adventure? And what if the characters were different than those seen in traditional literature? Ten years later, the Lost Tribes was published. The first books were used during an MIT summer middle school program. In addition, one librarian reported a student whose reading score doubled. Come learn how an MIT engineer switched gears mid-career to help grow a new generation of independent readers.Christine is completing her second year as an MLK Scholar sponsored by the Department of Anthropology.This event is hybrid. Please choose your ticket accordingly.We are committed to making this event fully accessible to everyone who wants to attend. Please let us know if there is anything you need to participate fully in this event by e-mailing vulfp@mit.edu.Photographs and/or videos may be taken at this event.By entering and attending this event, you acknowledge and agree that your likeness and/or voice may be included in photos and videos of the event and used by MIT in connection with communications about the Institute Community and Equity Office or in other MIT communications.If you do not agree to this usage, please notify the event organizer or do not enter the event.

Have some fun(nel) on a tunnel or sun(nel) walk! Join us for a 30-minute volunteer-led walk either through MIT’s famous tunnel system or around Killian Court. As the weather gets warmer, walk leaders may choose to take the group outside. Is the weather warm and you missed the start? Find the group on Killian Court and join in!Sun(nel) Walk Leaders will identify themselves by holding a white flag at the meeting location.Location details: Meet in the atrium by the staircase. [See image below]Prize Drawing: Attend a walk and scan a QR code from the walk leaders to be entered into a drawing for a getfit canvas boat tote bag at the end of the getfit challenge. The more walks you attend, the more entries you get. Winner will be drawn and notified at the end of April. Winner does not need to be a getfit participant.Disclaimer: Tunnel walks are led by volunteers. In the rare occasion when a volunteer isn’t able to make it, we will do our best to notify participants. In the event we are unable to notify participants and a walk leader does not show up, we encourage you to walk as much as you feel comfortable doing so. We recommend checking this calendar just before you head out.Getfit is a 12-week fitness challenge for the entire MIT community. These tunnel walks are open to the entire MIT community and you do not need to be a current getfit participant to join.

MIT Free English Class is for international students, sholars, spouses. Twenty seven years ago we created a community to welcome the nations to MIT and assist with language and friendship. Join our Tuesday/Thursday conversation classes around tables inside W11-190.

Join us for a rejuvenating 30-minute meditation session led by an experienced Buddhist monk.This weekly session is open to the MIT community and offers a peaceful break to manage stress, ease frustration, and enhance focus. By practicing mindfulness meditation, you'll not only boost your compassion, energy, and productivity but also connect with like-minded peers who share a passion for mental wellness. Sessions feature light meditation guidance and time for silent practice.Whether you're new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, this session provides a supportive space to cultivate inner peace and resilience. Don't miss this opportunity to recharge and foster a mindful community.

Speaker: Qiwei Yu (Princeton)Title: Nonequilibrium Physics of Biological Functions: Bacterial Chromosome Segregation and Chemotaxis Signaling as ExamplesAbstract:Living systems operate far from equilibrium. Continuous dissipation of free energy is required to fulfill a wide range of biological functions—from error correction and environmental sensing to collective behaviors. The close connection between dissipation and function raises two physics questions: (1) How can we quantify dissipation in a complex biological system, especially when only mesoscopic degrees of freedom are accessible? (2) What is the mechanism by which nonequilibrium dynamics is harnessed to execute specific functions?This talk will cover our progress on both fronts. To address the first question, we developed a renormalization-group-type analysis in coarse-grained nonequilibrium systems, which revealed a scaling law for energy dissipation. I will then focus primarily on the second question and present our recent work on two nonequilibrium processes in Escherichia coli: how nonequilibrium polysome dynamics couples chromosome segregation to cell growth, and how dissipative interactions in the chemosensory array enhance signaling speed, sensitivity, and robustness. These examples illustrate the importance of nonequilibrium processes in living systems.

"The Impacts of Employee Recognition Programs on Workers and Firms: The Role of Managerial Discretion vs. Worker Voting" | Namrata Kala (MIT Sloan)

Ten minutes for your mind@2:50 every day at 2:50 pm in multiple time zones:Europa@2:50, EET, Athens, Helsinki (UTC+2) (7:50 am EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88298032734Atlantica@2:50, EST, New York, Toronto (UTC-4) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85349851047Pacifica@2:50, PST, Los Angeles, Vancouver (UTC=7) (5:50 pm EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85743543699Almost everything works better again if you unplug it for a bit, including your mind. Stop by and unplug. Get the benefits of mindfulness without the fuss.@2:50 meets at the same time every single day for ten minutes of quiet together.No pre-requisite, no registration needed.Visit the website to view all @2:50 time zones each day.at250.org or at250.mit.edu

Speaker: Izzet Coskun (UIC)Title: Brill-Noether for moduli spaces of sheaves on surfacesAbstract:In this talk, I will discuss recent work on Brill-Noether theory for moduli spaces of sheaves on surfaces. I will first discuss the cohomology of the general stable sheaf on surfaces such as K3 and abelian surfaces. If time permits, I will describe some recent results on the cohomology jumping loci. This talk is based on joint work with Jack Huizenga, Howard Nuer, Neelarnab Raha and Kota Yoshioka.

Join MIT Health’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Cecilia Stuopis, for an introduction to healthcare proxies. In this webinar, you will learn how healthcare proxies work, why they matter, and how to make sure your wishes are honored. Whether you’re making decisions for yourself or supporting a loved one, this webinar will provide valuable guidance on navigating healthcare choices.Attendees should register in advance at: https://wellness.gosignmeup.com/public/Course/browse?courseid=6220Learning objectives:Understanding the importance of advance care planning and healthcare proxiesDefining the decisions you want to make clear to your proxyLearning how to select a proxy that is right for youThe MIT Health Seminar Series are open to members of the MIT community, along with patients who get their care at MIT Health.This seminar will take place in webinar format over Zoom.

Speakers: Joshua Zahl (University of British Columbia)Title: The Kakeya set conjecture in three dimensionsAbstract: A Besicovitch set is a compact subset of ℝn that contains a unit line segment pointing in every direction. The Kakeya set conjecture asserts that every Besicovitch set in ℝn has Minkowski and Hausdorff dimension n. I will discuss some recent progress on this conjecture, leading to the resolution of the Kakeya set conjecture in three dimensions. This is joint work with Hong Wang.

Speaker: Johannes Walter, HarvardHost: Seychelle VosTitle: "AI-powered studies of vertebrate DNA repair"The Biology Colloquium is a weekly seminar held throughout the academic year — featuring distinguished speakers in many areas of the biological sciences from universities and institutions worldwide. More information on speakers, their affiliations, and titles of their talks will be added as available. Unless otherwise stated, the Colloquium will be held live in Stata 32-123 (Kirsch auditorium) Contact Margaret Cabral with questions.

Andres Drenik Univ of Texas at Austin

Time: 3:30 PMLocation: Cambridge, MA

Speaker: Jit Wu Yap (Harvard University)Title: Quantitative Equidistribution of Small Points for Canonical HeightsAbstract:Let $K$ be a number field and $A$ an abelian variety over $K$. Then if $h_{\operatorname{NT}}(x)$ denotes the Neron--Tate height of $x \in A(\overline{\mathbb{Q}})$, Szpiro-Ullmo-Zhang showed that the Galois orbits of a generic sequence $(x_n)$ with $h_{\operatorname{NT}}(x_n) \to 0$ must equidistribute to the Haar measure of $A(\mathbb{C})$. In this talk, I will explain a quantitative version of their equidistribution theorem along with its generalization to polarized dynamical systems.

Presented by Sasha RickardPhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College and Assistant Director of Concourse, MIT Abstract: Despite Socrates’ reputation as a moral gadfly, there is much disagreement about his position on the role of pleasure in the good life. In the ancient world, schools of thought as opposed as Epicureanism and Stoicism grew out of interpretations of Socratic teachings. Neither is this disagreement resolved by modern scholars. In Plato’s Philebus, Socrates interrogates a young interlocutor about the nature and goodness of pleasure. In the course of this interrogation, Socrates walks us through a phenomenological account of pleasure in its many forms, helping us to clarify our own experiences as well as the Socratic perspective on the role of pleasure in the good life. At the same time, through the arguments and decisions of Socrates’ interlocutors, Plato shows us something about the allure of hedonism. I will suggest that a careful reading of the Philebus helps to resolve the long-standing disagreement about Socrates’ perspective on pleasure, and to point to forces which incline us in the modern world, and especially intellectually ambitious young people, toward the belief that pleasure is the greatest good. Sasha Rickard is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College, writing a dissertation on Plato and the politics of hedonism. She is also the Assistant Director of the Concourse program at MIT. Her scholarly interests include Plato, Shakespeare, early modern political thought, and American political thought.For more info: ams-events@mit.eduSponsored by MIT Literature Section and History

"Do you ever feel that life holds a deeper meaning beyond what you currently understand? The truth is profound—there are countless mysteries of existence, divinity, and the self that lie beyond our awareness. There is so much we don’t know, and even more that we don’t realize we don’t know."Join us on this exciting journey of Discover Your Self to explore the unknown territories of life and delve into the science of spirituality. This course, based on the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, will equip you with proven methods to achieve true inner joy and answer your deepest questions about life's higher principles. This Course explains Proven methods to attain the true inner joy of heart and gives answers to all the Inquiries about Higher Principles in life like the pathway for unlimited and everlasting happiness from the eyes of scriptures like Bhagavad Gita in a scientific perspective.Salient Features:Discover the Game of LifeDiscover Inner SelfDiscover The Ultimate GeniusDiscover Manual of LifeDiscover Lasting SolutionDiscover Sublime Joy Through SoundDiscover The Real Eternal LoveDiscover The Happy PlanetYou are invited to join us every Tuesday 6:00-7:00 pm. To your pleasure we have free delicious sattvik vegetarian dinner is available after every session.Event details:6:00 pm-6:10 pm: Mantra Meditation and kirtan6:10 pm-6:50 pm: : Session7:00pm : Dinner along with Q&A.Venue: MIT Room 56-180, 32 Vasaar Steeet, Cambridge MA Kindly RSVP here https://forms.gle/DEXUz6ig6dJZoU1k7Regards, MIT Vedic Vision Forum

This yoga practice provides the opportunity to relax and de-stress as well as to stretch, strengthen, and balance your body. The practice begins with a meditative centering followed by warm-ups, a posture flow, and a restful final relaxation. We conclude with a closing and some time for connecting with your fellow yogis.The yoga postures are led at a moderate intensity. Lower intensity modifications are always offered and there is absolutely no obligation to do any posture. The goal is to make the class accessible to beginners as well as experienced practitioners. Listening to your body is the key to safety, especially in this online format.Registration is required on our wellness class website. If you do not already have an account on this website, you'll need to create one. This is fee-based class and open to the entire MIT community.