Weekly PDA Newsletter - September 25, 2016

Sun Sep 25 16:39:59 EDT 2016

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Dear MIT Postdocs,

This is my last newsletter. I had a great year serving as the Corresponding Secretary and starting this newsletter. I hope you enjoyed reading it (or swiftly scanning through it) and that it helped you to be more aware of all the things happening at MIT. It was definitely a lot of fun for me to write these now 46 newsletters and I am sure that my successor Meghan will do a great job continuing and improving this weekly digest.
But as you probably noticed, I am not leaving the PDA yet, just switching to the position of the vice president. :)

Wish you all a great week!

Best,
Kathrin

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Dr.-Ing. Kathrin Graetz
Corresponding Secretary
Postdoctoral Association of MIT (PDA)
pda.mit.edu<http://pda.mit.edu/>                Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/groups/44093460815/>                Twitter (@MITPDA)<https://twitter.com/MITPDA>              Instagram (@mitpda)<https://www.instagram.com/mitpda/>                   LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/grps/MIT-Postdoc-2506720/about?>

Boston PDA: http://bostonpostdocs.org/             and               https://www.facebook.com/groups/1969262336632168/\<https://www.facebook.com/groups/1969262336632168/%5C>

Next PDA meeting:  October 3, 12pm @E25-202      (in one week!)     register here<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-vT1gzgyik3JHFWaRgQwAVeVoiaoQFK7iP2MO4dtKwo/viewform>          Lunch will be provided!

This Week's Topics:

*       Call for Nominations: Fundraising Committee & Orientation Committee

*       Postdoc Orientation Sessions

*       From the PDA PInG Initiatives:

o   Postdoc Jogging Club

o   Glimpse

*       Other Events at MIT

o   Emotibot Technologies Tech Talk (Monday, 10am)     New

o   The Art of Talking Science (Monday, 3pm)

o   Mc Kinsey Germany Recruiting Event

o   de la Femme: Conflict Communication and Resolution Strategies (Wednesday, 6pm)

o   Solve at HUBweek

o   "Distant Future" Events

The new board...now you know who to chat up with your ideas and questions in the hallway!
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Second Row (from the left): Phalgun Lolur (Community Building), Kate Dupont (Human Affairs), Meghan Huber (Corresponding Secretary), Haomiao Zhang (IT), Augusto Tentori (President), Kathrin Graetz (Vice President), Ahmed Fazly (Alumni), Thomas Matarazzo (Advocacy)
First Row: Kiel Ormerod (Recording Secretary), Jake Martin (Treasurer), Elizabeth Stewart (PInG), Yogesh Dayma (Professional Development)
(David Zhitomirsky (Sports) not in the picture)

Call for Nominations: PDA Fundraising Committee Chair & Orientation Committee Chair
The MIT Postdoctoral Association (PDA) is seeking for nominations for the Fundraising Committee Chair and Orientation Committee Chair to serve in the 2016/17 term. This is a great chance to take on a leadership role and help shape the postdoctoral experience at MIT!

The fundraising committee works with businesses and organizations to generate additional funds to support PDA activities. A key revenue-generating event is a vendor fair held in the early spring, which is co-hosted with a postdoc poster session.

The orientation committee chair has two main responsibilities, which are maintaining an up-to-date version of the slides for the postdoc orientation and organizing volunteer presenters from active members of the PDA. Additional duties include collecting survey results to better understand the concerns of incoming postdocs and providing feedback to the PDA and HR about any such concerns.

If you are interested, or have further questions, please contact our president Augusto (atentori at mit.edu<mailto:atentori at mit.edu>). We will vote on the candidates during our next PDA monthly meeting (October 3rd, 12-2pm, E25-202).

Postdoc Orientation Sessions:

The PDA offers Postdoc Orientation Sessions open to all postdocs at MIT. Topics covered include:
*       Data on postdoc population at MIT

  *   MIT oversight of postdocs
  *   Defining postdoc expectations
  *   Differences between fellows and associates
  *   PDA structure and initiatives
*       How to get involved
The sessions will be typically the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 12pm (45-60min) in E19-306. Lunch will be provided.
The dates for the next six months are as follows: October 3, October 17, November 7, November 21, December 5, December 19

If you are interested in participating, you can register via Atlas or using this link<http://web.mit.edu/training/course.html?course=CDT21061c>.

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>From the PDA PInG Initiatives:

Postdoc Jogging Club
Interested in meeting new people and experiencing the outdoors? Join the postdoc jogging club. Email aklotz at mit.edu<mailto:aklotz at mit.edu> if interested. All speeds and levels of experience welcome.

[[GLIMPSE logo]]Glimpse:

If you would like to be interviewed by GLIMPSE podcast or would like to help with the podcast (music, logo, artwork), please contact us at glimpse.podcast at gmail.com<mailto:glimpse.podcast at gmail.com>. For more information, please visit us at: http://glimpse.mit.edu/

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Please take 30 seconds of your time right now to help ensure science funding and prevent government shutdown using our super easy online email tool at http://save-science.org/.  The fate of next year's science budget is your hands during this critical week. You can read more about the federal budget and 2017 science funding on our blog http://goo.gl/CDFRxZ. Please also forward this email to any list serves that might help get the word out particularly at institutions in other states. Your voice really does count.
Thanks for doing your part for science funding.

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Other Events at MIT:

This Week:

Emotibot Technologies Tech Talk (organized by CSAIL Alliance)                 New
Emotibot Technologies Limited is dedicated to creating the first personalized artificial intelligent companion in China, based on affective computing research and cutting-edge technologies, such as deep learning, to meet everyone's daily life needs and help them achieve professional goals.
In this tech talk, Yongning Ma, Deep Learning Engineer at Emotibot, will share our experiences in building a dialogue generator with a) modified GRU b) context cue and memory c) multi-resolution and multi-task architecture and d) reinforcement learning and active online learning with additional discriminative model, and how the language generator fits in our core technology stack that enables the robot to make intelligent conversations with human. I will discuss the tough problems we face with real users, and the huge opportunity we have in developing this technology.
Date and Time: Monday, September 26th, 10am - 1pm
Location: 32-882 (Hewlett Room)
Registration here<http://bit.ly/CAPEmotibot16>
Lunch will be provided

The Art of Talking Science (organized by MGH Research Institute)
Are you ready for our communicating science challenge? One of the biggest challenges that scientists face today is communicating their science effectively to a lay audience. On Monday, Sept. 26, from 3 pm to 5 pm at the Paul S. Russell Museum of Medical History, the Mass General Research Institute & HUBweek will present "The Art of Talking Science," a fun, interactive event that will give eight local researchers a chance to present their science to a diverse panel of judges and a live audience.
The event will be open to all academic biomedical researchers in the Boston/Cambridge community.
Register here<https://www.massgeneral.org/research/forms/HUBweek-entry.aspx>

Mc Kinsey Germany Recruiting Event
We would like to inform you about the event "Meet McKinsey Deutschland".
On Sep 26-28, you will have the chance to meet Consultants from the German McKinsey Office in various meet & greet sessions. The Event is targeted at German-speaking Undergrads/Grads/PhDs/Post-Docs that are interested in learning more about Topmanagement Consulting.
Details (including application deadlines and registration) can be found here: https://www.mckinsey.de/meet-mckinsey<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.mckinsey.de_meet-2Dmckinsey&d=CwMFAg&c=yIH1_-b1hO27QV_BdDph9suDL0Jq0WcgndLmIuQXoms&r=DDJacRopPa6FQga6ogeLHNCNX9XEXuAH52kLQmfy2Jw&m=2lmJAFD6YF9vXhdOHoF5LFBS75ulxJdT0yx4A7e18Fw&s=6XDO6YiRIBUstPPgoGVCLSQDLL32JQaz9WSKpE3z7T4&e=>

de la Femme: Conflict Communication and Resolution Strategies (organized by de la Femme)
What you say and do matters for the outcome you want in any given situation.  Whether at the workplace or in our personal lives, we have all been through scenarios where communication barriers result in negative and costly outcomes.  There is always a time, when you need to listen and a time to speak up for yourself.  Ever wonder when is the time to speak and when to listen?  Oliver Wendell Homes Sr. once said, "It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."  Join us with Michele Whitham to learn the insights/skills of successful professional self-management and hone in some practical workplace conflict resolution strategies.
Dinner and drinks will be provided.  Registration is required, sign-in upon arrival.
Date and Time: Wednesday, September 28th, 6pm
Location: Olympus Room, The Broad Institute
Registration here<http://dlf-conflict-communication.eventbrite.com/>

Solve at HUBweek          New
Next week, we launch the first of these intermediate events with Solve at HUBweek<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/1/8falM30JvcWxvIIczvwZig/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUv>, where teams of innovators will pitch solutions to challenges ranging from educating children in refugee camps to removing carbon from the atmosphere. Next spring, the teams with the best solutions will return to campus for Solve at MIT, where experts and influencers will help the finalists advance their proposals from idea to reality. You can read more on MIT News<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/2/E8nWgCF1tlLb8vHsUFDgOg/aHR0cDovL25ld3MubWl0LmVkdS8yMDE2L3NvbHZlLWh1YndlZWstb2ZmZXJzLWxvY2FsLXNob3djYXNlLWdsb2JhbC1zcHJpbmdib2FyZC1zb2x1dGlvbnMtc29jaWV0eS1jaGFsbGVuZ2VzLTA5MTY>.
Solve at HUBweek will run from September 27 to 28 at the MIT Media Lab. Event and registration details can be found here<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/3/5xdcI1cjPVc-Mb35GOYYNQ/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUv>, with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.
A few highlights:

  *   Solve: Make<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/4/qZL_BG_A4gGWbDf3qxpaAA/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUvc29sdmUtbWFrZS8>, September 27, afternoon: How do we create a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable economic future for all?
  *   MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition (IIC) Awards Ceremony<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/5/lSOjZnSQp2BWDhFVOLdpQA/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUvbWl0LWlkZS1pbmNsdXNpdmUtaW5ub3ZhdGlvbi1hd2FyZHMtY2VsZWJyYXRpb24v>, September 27, evening: A celebration of solutions that create greater economic opportunity across society
  *   Solve: Learn<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/6/k-kMzaTs10FxpND4qCeGUw/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUvc29sdmUtbGVhcm4v>, September 28, morning: An examination of opportunities for expanding access to a quality education
  *   Solve: Fuel<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/7/W51Z1q6BrXq7Mh_sgdOMfg/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9ldmVudHMvc29sdmUvc29sdmUtZnVlbC8>, September 28, afternoon: A discussion of challenges in energy, food, water, and sustainability
I also invite you to participate in the other exciting and creative activities planned for HUBweek<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/8/NAZaKwdKJa3Mz3Qk-rTK6g/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy8>, of which MIT is a proud sponsor. A collaboration with Harvard University, The Boston Globe, and Massachusetts General Hospital, HUBweek celebrates the region's innovative spirit through art, science, and technology. I am especially looking forward to Inside Kendall Square<http://o6os.mj.am/lnk/ADwAFezEFo4AASTAuBkAAFoDz84AAP_9MTcAFy3NAATIvQBX4E47tUGNprrnR6GXsAInE6GB8wAEleU/9/EPkWDolyw54E5c2ZtD6iPQ/aHR0cHM6Ly9odWJ3ZWVrLm9yZy9sb2NhdGlvbnMva2VuZGFsbC1zcXVhcmUv>, an exploration of the most innovative square mile on the planet.

In the "Distant" Future:

28th annual Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Symposium (organized by Harvard Medical School)
Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.
In honor of Rodolphe Barrangou, Emmanuelle Charpentier,  Jennifer Doudna, Philippe Horvath, Viginijus Siksnys for remarkable contributions to the understanding of the CRISPR bacterial defense system and the revolutionary discovery that it can be adapted for genome editing.
Date and Time: Thursday, October 6th, 1:30 - 5:30pm
Location: Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, New Research Building, Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
Registration hms_events at hms.harvard.edu<mailto:hms_events at hms.harvard.edu>

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Free affiliate membership with the National Postdoctoral Association: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/?page=individual_members

*NOTE: Association of Women in Science Massachusetts Chapter (http://mass-awis.org/): Since MIT is a Collegiate Rep of AWIS, the MIT community can attend Mass AWIS events at the member price.  First, apply for your free membership through the national AWIS website http://www.awis.org/ as a Collegiate Rep and select the Massachusetts Chapter. Do this prior to registering for any events.

Other helpful sites:
postdocs.mit.edu (Office VPR)
MIT GECD Events<https://gecd.mit.edu/mit-events>
MIT Spouses&Partners Events<http://spouses.mit.edu/mit-events>
MIT Events<http://events.mit.edu/>

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MIT Writing & Communication Center
The Center provides free professional advice about all types of writing and speaking/oral presentations, including specialized help for non-native English speakers. See. http://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/

MyLife Services
Postdoc Associates and Fellows are eligible for services provided by KGA, Inc. through the Work-Life Center and MyLife Services.
MyLife Services<http://o6os.mj.am/link/o6os/xlkt8jnnqpg8/1/-kBne3WjUT8Ww6LEA98gxw/aHR0cDovL2hyd2ViLm1pdC5lZHUvd29ya2xpZmUvbWl0bXlsaWZlc2VydmljZXM> is a free, confidential, 24/7 counseling, consultation, and work-life referral service provided by KGA, Inc., a trusted external provider of employee assistance programs. You can now access a network of experts who can help with the challenges of life and work, such as:
Financial planning, debt management, and legal issues
Personal and work relationships
Sleep and nutrition
Stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional concerns
Child and elder care
This includes 5 FREE confidential mental health counseling sessions, as well as access to 24/7 confidential counseling services.
We encourage you to learn more about MyLife Services by calling 1-844-405-LIFE (1-844-405-5433) or going online<http://o6os.mj.am/link/o6os/xlkt8jnnqpg8/2/y46EmaQ0aMF6d85vixaLTg/aHR0cDovL2hyd2ViLm1pdC5lZHUvd29ya2xpZmUvbWl0bXlsaWZlc2VydmljZXM>. You will hear more about MyLife Services later in the summer and early fall, and a postcard with additional details will be in your campus mailbox in the coming days. For more information or to provide feedback, please contact the MIT Work-Life Center<mailto:worklife at mit.edu>.

Spouses&Partners Connect - http://spouses.mit.edu/
Offers social and career-related groups and events for your spouse/partner/family.

MIT Employee Resource Groups
Join an Employee Resource Group (ERG) at MIT!
ERGs are employee-led groups formed around common interests, issues and/or a common bond or background. ERGs host activities such as lectures, socials, dinners, etc. Both Postdoctoral Fellows and Associates are invited to join.
Current ERGs include:
African, Black, American, Caribbean @MIT (ABAC at MIT) ERG
Asian Pacific American ERG
Latino ERG,
Lesbian, Gay, ,Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) ERG
Millennials ERG
Women in IT ERG
Check out the link for more information and upcoming events: http://hrweb.mit.edu/diversity/ergs/current

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