Let's meet, eat, and speak! Practice a language with a group of native speakers and other language learners, meet other language lovers, and learn about the LCE.The registration is here.Anyone who is affiliated with MIT can participate in the LCE. Our members include students, staff, visiting scientists and scholars, faculty members, and their spouses and partners.

A martial art known for its many health benefits, tai chi is a moving study in meditation.Designed for small spaces, this class covers fundamental skills including postures, hand, and footwork. A short Yang style tai chi form will be taught.Special clothing is not necessary, but athletic shoes and loose fitting pants are recommended.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.

In this webinar, hosted by MIT Open Learning, authors from the AI + Open Education Initiative will discuss rapid response papers on the topics of professional education, the judicious use of AI, and open practices. The following papers and authors will be spotlighted:Addressing Challenges in Faculty Professional Development: UDL Training through AI-Enhanced OER in a Non-English Context with Aigerim ShilibekovaJudicious AI Use to Improve Existing OER with Royce Kimmons and Torrey TrustBefore opening to audience questions, speakers will engage with respondent Clint Lalonde, the director of Open Education at BCcampus, in a discussion on:How AI might accelerate responsive open education practicesWhat inequalities might become more entrenched through AI applicationsThe future of open education in an ecosystem shaped by AI systemsThe purpose of this webinar is to shape the discourse about these pressing issues, and to invite multiple perspectives as we tackle these challenges together. REGISTER HERE

What happens when you put art historians, conservators, and materials scientists in the same room? Join MIT Libraries’ Department of Distinctive Collections for a viewing of the exhibition Refracted Histories followed by a panel discussion with the exhibition curators, conservators, and two Materials Sciences and Engineering faculty who worked on this exhibition. The panelists will discuss their collaboration preparing two historic stucco and stained glass windows in the Rotch Art Collection for display through the lenses of art history, architecture, and scientific research.The doors to the Nexus will open at 2 PM and the panel will begin at 2:30 and run to 3:30. Coffee and pastries will be provided. The exhibit will be open from 10-4 PM in the libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery (Building 14N-130). Participants are invited to view the exhibit before or after the event.

Speaker: Robert RenTitle: Theoretical Foundations of Flow-based Methods for Sampling and Generative Modeling

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

Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PMSpeaker: Amanda Burcroff (Harvard)Title: Positivity in cluster algebras and their generalizationsAbstract: This dissertation connects several perspectives on positivity in cluster algebras and scattering diagrams, which are powerful combinatorial tools deeply related to geometry, representation theory, and physics. We prove the Laurent positivity conjecture for generalized cluster algebras via a manifestly-positive combinatorial formula for rank 2 scattering diagrams. We also prove bijective results relating scattering diagrams and Dyck path combinatorics for quantum cluster algebras. Portions of this work are joint with Kyungyong Lee and Lang Mou.____________________________________________________________________________________________________Time: 4:15 PM - 5:15 PMSpeaker: Jiyang Gao (Harvard)Title: Tilted Richardson varietiesAbstract: We introduce and develop the theory of tilted Richardson varieties, a new family of subvarieties of the flag variety that generalize classical Richardson varieties. We establish their fundamental geometric properties, including irreducibility, explicit dimension formulas, and a stratification indexed by tilted Bruhat intervals. We construct a tilted analog of the Deodhar decomposition, leading to a combinatorial formula for tilted Kazhdan--Lusztig R-polynomials. We also develop a theory of total positivity for tilted Richardson varieties, showing that their totally nonnegative parts form a CW complex, thus addressing a question of Björner. Finally, we relate tilted Richardson varieties to quantum Schubert calculus, proving they coincide with minimal-degree two-point curve neighborhoods, and use this to compute their cohomology classes and derive new relations among Gromov--Witten invariants. This dissertation is based on joint work with Shiliang Gao and Yibo Gao.

MIT Program in Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM) Seminar

The Department of Mathematics welcomes École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne professor Maryna Viazovska to our annual Simons Lecture Series.She will give three lectures April 29-May 1The Sphere Packing Problem Lecture 1: General overview. Lecture 2: Random sphere packings with symmetries Lecture 3: Ideal lattice packings and subconvexity bounds IIEach day, a reception will be held at 4pm in Room 2-290, followed by the 4:30pm lecture in Room 2-190.This annual lecture series features presentations by top mathematicians. Many thanks to the late Jim Simons and his wife, Marilyn Simons, for their continued financial support of these lectures.

Michael Greenstone (University of Chicago)

A discussion on Professor Marlene Daut’s new book The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe.

Talk Title: Under Pressure: Materials Chemistry at Extreme Conditions

Speaker: Sanath Devalapurkar (Harvard University)

Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)Speaker: Oliver Rollins, Ph.D. Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS), MITHosts: Dr. Mriganka Sur, Dr. Rebecca SaxeTalk title: What Antiracism means for (Neuro)science Today Abstract: Historically, race—especially its erroneous interpretation as a biological reality—has played a key role in shaping scientific research about the brain. Today, neuroscience, like other related fields of biological inquiry, not only rejects its racist past but also seeks to clarify that race holds little scientific relevance in the present. In response to the Summer of 2020, for example, major scientific journals (e.g., Nature, Science, and JAMA) and institutions issued calls to better recognize and combat the underlying harms of scientific racism. However, our current sociopolitical environment raises questions about whether and how neuroscience can genuinely confront its past and contemporary interactions with race. By emphasizing how racial inequality can be perpetuated and confronted through everyday technological practices involving the brain, I aim to provide evidence of the necessity for neuroscientists and social scientists to think more collectively, critically, and creatively about the intersections between (neuro)science and the politics of social difference.

Time: 3:30 PMLocation: Cambridge, MA

Speaker: Ulrich Jentshura (Missouri S&T)Title: Resurgent Expansions and TransseriesAbstract:Traditionally, the divergent perturbation series of a quartic anharmonic oscillator has been used as an example of a factorially divergent, alternating perturbation series describing an energy level of a quantum mechanical system. The Bender-Wu formulas have been used in order to connect the "stable" domain of positive coupling, where the resonance energy eigenvalues are real rather than complex, with the "unstable" domain of negative coupling, where the resonance energy eigenvalues are complex; the latter describe unstable states whose resonance energy has a nonvanishing imaginary part. The imaginary part of the resonance energy describes the decay width. In recent years, the concept of a perturbation series has been generalized to include series with perturbative (power) terms and nonperturbative exponential factors of the form exp(-A/g), where A is the so-called instanton action and g is the coupling parameter. These generalized perturbation series ("transseries") are able to describe, analytically, the manifestly complex resonance energies in the unstable domain. Such generalized perturbation series are even able to describe anharmonic oscillator energies in cases where the perturbation series vanishes to all orders, but the ground-state energy is manifestly nonzero.

Join us for an insightful panel discussion hosted by Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, John Guttag, featuring brief presentations by leading experts in the field:Jacob Andreas, Associate Professor, EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)Philip Isola, Class of Career Development Professor; Associate Professor, EECSLeslie Kaelbling, Panasonic Professor, EECSFollowing these presentations, there will be a conversation and Q&A with Es Devlin, the 2025 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT recipient. Devlin will discuss her work at the intersection of AI and the arts, including her groundbreaking Poem Pavilion project, which explores the fusion of technology and human expression.Don’t miss the chance to explore the exciting developments in AI and hear from one of the most innovative designers of our time. Space is limited—register by April 18 to secure your spot!

Earth Day ColloquiumWhere do we go from here? Pathways to a clean energy transitionThis event is for the MIT Community. Please register with an MIT.edu email.Please join us to hear from Manish Bapna, the president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy provides significant benefits to the economy, public health, and the environment. Bapna will discuss opportunities and challenges to advance this transition in the coming years with a particular focus on what it will take to reinvigorate momentum for clean energy and climate action in the United States.Light refreshments to follow co-hosted by the MIT Energy & Climate ClubAbout the speakerManish Bapna became president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2021. With more than 700 attorneys, scientists, advocates, and policy experts on staff, as well as three million members, NRDC is confronting the interlocking climate, health, nature, and inequity crises facing the world today. Prior to joining NRDC, Bapna held leadership roles at the World Bank, the Bank Information Center, and the World Resources Institute, focusing on scaling solutions at the intersection of the environment and human development. Bapna was born outside of Chicago and holds master’s degrees in business and political and economic development from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT.About the MITEI Presents: Advancing the Energy Transition speaker seriesWe are in the midst of a major global shift in the types of energy we use and the ways we use them. We know that if we are to stabilize the planet’s climate and eliminate harmful emissions, we must transform our energy systems. This speaker series will connect you with energy experts and leaders who are actively working on the scientific, technological, and policy solutions we urgently need, and will explore how we must work together to accelerate this complicated process.

Every Wednesday night you are invited to come to The Table for peaceful Christian worship in the Chapel at 5:15 pm and dinner in the Main Dining Room of W11 at 6:30 pm.We worship with beautiful songs, open conversation about the Scriptures, prayers and a simple sharing of communion around the altar. Then we enjoy dinner together and good company together. Whether you come every week or just drop by once in a while, there is a caring community for you at the Table.You are truly welcome to come as you are: undergrad, grad, or post-doc; sure of your faith or wondering what it is all about; gay, straight, bi, trans*, questioning. Please join us for no-pressure worship and fellowship.Hosted by the Lutheran Epsicopal Ministry @ MIT. For more information, or to verify gathering times during holiday and vacation periods, please contact chaplains Andrew Heisen (heisen@mit.edu) and Kevin Vetiac (kvet246@mit.edu).

Many people think gentle yoga is too easy and not an effective form of fitness. Think again! You can practice yoga in ways that are both active and gentle at the same time.Come enjoy the many known benefits of yoga through:the practice of active yet gentle, rhythmic movementheld yoga poses and vinyasa flow (moving from pose to pose via the breath)pranayam (breath work)relaxation and meditationIn this well-rounded class, Celeste LeMieux, 500 hr certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor, provides clear instructions and modifications, making it accessible and beneficial to practitioners of all ages and stages of yoga practice and life.You will leave class feeling both stretched and strengthened while also feeling more calm and relaxed. This class is the perfect mid-week reset for body and mind. Come see how less really can be more!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.