Residential Scholar Events Spring 2011

Residential scholar events occur most Friday nights. The events are organized by the Simmons Hall Residential Scholars, Graduate Resident Tutors, Residential Life Associate, and Associate Housemaster. Most events are open to the MIT community. Some smaller events, such as cooking events, are open to Simmons Hall residents only.

The diversity of the events is impressive, and limited only by the imagination of the Residential Scholars. The events for the Fall 2008 term are listed below; you can also see events from the Spring 2009 term. You can click on the the poster for each event to see a full-sized image.

An evening of Indian Cooking with Bollywood Music

Simmons Hall Country Kitchen
April 22, 2011
6:00 pm

Organizers: The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Jordan Allison

An evening of Indian cooking with Bollywood music, with a samosa cooking workshop.

SIMTrek 2011

Simmons Hall and Beyond
April 16
1-10 pm

Organizer: Henning Colsman-Freyberger

Armed with a one-day T pass, race around Boston visiting and taking photos at as many destinations as possible, competing for some awesome prizes!

Timeline:

Noon — Meet by Athena Cluster for Bagel Breakfast, Registra8on, and Rules
1 pm — Event Kickoff and Team Send-off
8 pm — Return to Simmons for Dinner and ADer Party
8 pm — Prize Ceremony Interested? Find some teammates (teams of 2--4) & sign up at www.tinyurl.com/simtrek

Quicksilver Dance

Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room
April 15 and 16, 2011
8:00 pm

Organizers: Hans Rinderknecht, Mariah Steele, Kartik Trehan

Come join us for a very special residential scholar event. Our very own Simmons Hall GRTs Hans Rinderknecht and Mariah Steele will be performing with their local professional modern dance company, Quicksilver Dance. The 75 minute show will contain several diverse pieces exploring cross-cultural interactions, our relationship with technology, the engineer's creative spirit, Greek myths, arranged marriages and more. The evening features eight distincive pieces, including three Boston premiers. Contrapose Dance, directed by Courtney Peix, will perform Ethnography. Lighting by Erik Fox. Come join us for this eclectic evening of humor, passion and exploration and then return home inspired!

See www.quicksilverdance.com for more information.

Virtual visit to Ethiopia

Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room
March 11, 2011
6:00 pm

Organizers: Michael and Irene Podowski, Justin and Lorenna Buck

Take a Virtual Tour of Ethiopia! Come see a presentation and slide show by Halina Walatek, and discover the answers to these questions: Why are you younger in Ethiopia? What do some Ethiopian men wear on their heads? What item is supplied free in Ethiopian hotels -- but isn't available in American ones? What does King Solomon have to do with Ethiopia? Why does it make sense to call arid Ethiopia the "Country of One Thousand Islands"?

Find out to the answers to these questions and more! You will also see unique pictures from remote areas of Ethiopia which are seldom seen by foreigners.

The Lives of Others: Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets

Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room
February 25, 2011
6:00 pm

Organizers: Henning and Anja Colsman-Freyberger, Patrick Schmid, Candice Chow

Professor Michael Podowski and a representative from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be addressing nuclear energy topics. Is nuclear energy safe? What is the impact of nuclear energy on the environment? What is the current U.S. plan for nuclear energy? How does nuclear energy fall into the global energy strategy? Get the answer to these questions on Friday at 6PM in the Simmons MPR. Plus, bring any nuclear related question for an interactive discussion.

Come to the Simmons Hall Residential Scholar event, The Lives of Others: Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets

Join us for an Oscar-winning movie (2007 Best Foreign Language Film of the Year) set in 1984 East Berlin. An agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. Henning and Anja Colsman-Freyberger will preface the movie screening with a brief introduction to the East German Secret Service, its methods and its (omni-)presence in the communist country, as well as how the secret files were dealt with after the wall came down.

The History of the Big Dig

Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room
February 11, 2011
6:00 pm

Organizers: Henning Colsman-Freyberger, Retsina Meyer, Reuben Goodman

The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), better known as "The Big Dig", was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into a 3.5-mile (5.6-km) tunnel. The project also included the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel (extending Interstate 90 to Logan International Airport), the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the space vacated by the previous I-93 elevated roadway.

Join us as Fred Salvucci, a key instigator of this behemoth of civil engineering, leads us through the history of the project: from the first ideas in the 1970s, through the planning and shaping of alliances in the 1980s and the construction in the 1990s and 2000s.

Frederick Salvucci (Senior Lecturer, Center for Transportation and Logistics, MIT) served as transportation advisor to Boston Mayor Kevin White (1970-1974), and then as Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis (1975-1978, and again 1983-1990). In those roles he shaped much of the transportation planning and policy in urban Boston and Massachusetts over the past 20 years.

Salvucci received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT. From 1964, he spent a year at the University of Naples as a Fulbright Scholar, studying the use of transportation investment to stimulate economic development in high poverty regions of Southern Italy.

Nuclear Energy

Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room
February 4th, 2011
6:00 pm

Organizers: Michael Podowski, Jon Gibbs

Simmons Hall Home Page The Residential Scholars Program Spring 2011 Events Fall 2010 Events Spring 2010 Events Fall 2009 Events Spring 2009 Events Fall 2008 Events Life as a Residential Scholar Residential Scholars Emeriti contact	Residential Scholar Events Spring 2011 Residential scholar events occur most Friday nights. The events are organized by the Simmons Hall Residential Scholars, Graduate Resident Tutors, Residential Life Associate, and Associate Housemaster. Most events are open to the MIT community. Some smaller events, such as cooking events, are open to Simmons Hall residents only. The diversity of the events is impressive, and limited only by the imagination of the Residential Scholars. The events for the Fall 2008 term are listed below; you can also see events from the Spring 2009 term. You can click on the the poster for each event to see a full-sized image.
	An evening of Indian Cooking with Bollywood Music Simmons Hall Country Kitchen April 22, 2011 6:00 pm Organizers: The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Jordan Allison An evening of Indian cooking with Bollywood music, with a samosa cooking workshop.
	SIMTrek 2011 Simmons Hall and Beyond April 16 1-10 pm Organizer: Henning Colsman-Freyberger Armed with a one-day T pass, race around Boston visiting and taking photos at as many destinations as possible, competing for some awesome prizes! Timeline: Noon — Meet by Athena Cluster for Bagel Breakfast, Registra8on, and Rules 1 pm — Event Kickoff and Team Send-off 8 pm — Return to Simmons for Dinner and ADer Party 8 pm — Prize Ceremony Interested? Find some teammates (teams of 2--4) & sign up at www.tinyurl.com/simtrek
	Quicksilver Dance Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room April 15 and 16, 2011 8:00 pm Organizers: Hans Rinderknecht, Mariah Steele, Kartik Trehan Come join us for a very special residential scholar event. Our very own Simmons Hall GRTs Hans Rinderknecht and Mariah Steele will be performing with their local professional modern dance company, Quicksilver Dance. The 75 minute show will contain several diverse pieces exploring cross-cultural interactions, our relationship with technology, the engineer's creative spirit, Greek myths, arranged marriages and more. The evening features eight distincive pieces, including three Boston premiers. Contrapose Dance, directed by Courtney Peix, will perform Ethnography. Lighting by Erik Fox. Come join us for this eclectic evening of humor, passion and exploration and then return home inspired! See www.quicksilverdance.com for more information.
	Virtual visit to Ethiopia Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room March 11, 2011 6:00 pm Organizers: Michael and Irene Podowski, Justin and Lorenna Buck Take a Virtual Tour of Ethiopia! Come see a presentation and slide show by Halina Walatek, and discover the answers to these questions: Why are you younger in Ethiopia? What do some Ethiopian men wear on their heads? What item is supplied free in Ethiopian hotels -- but isn't available in American ones? What does King Solomon have to do with Ethiopia? Why does it make sense to call arid Ethiopia the "Country of One Thousand Islands"? Find out to the answers to these questions and more! You will also see unique pictures from remote areas of Ethiopia which are seldom seen by foreigners.
	The Lives of Others: Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room February 25, 2011 6:00 pm Organizers: Henning and Anja Colsman-Freyberger, Patrick Schmid, Candice Chow Professor Michael Podowski and a representative from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be addressing nuclear energy topics. Is nuclear energy safe? What is the impact of nuclear energy on the environment? What is the current U.S. plan for nuclear energy? How does nuclear energy fall into the global energy strategy? Get the answer to these questions on Friday at 6PM in the Simmons MPR. Plus, bring any nuclear related question for an interactive discussion. Come to the Simmons Hall Residential Scholar event, The Lives of Others: Before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Secret Police Listened to Your Secrets Join us for an Oscar-winning movie (2007 Best Foreign Language Film of the Year) set in 1984 East Berlin. An agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. Henning and Anja Colsman-Freyberger will preface the movie screening with a brief introduction to the East German Secret Service, its methods and its (omni-)presence in the communist country, as well as how the secret files were dealt with after the wall came down.
	The History of the Big Dig Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room February 11, 2011 6:00 pm Organizers: Henning Colsman-Freyberger, Retsina Meyer, Reuben Goodman The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), better known as "The Big Dig", was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into a 3.5-mile (5.6-km) tunnel. The project also included the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel (extending Interstate 90 to Logan International Airport), the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the space vacated by the previous I-93 elevated roadway. Join us as Fred Salvucci, a key instigator of this behemoth of civil engineering, leads us through the history of the project: from the first ideas in the 1970s, through the planning and shaping of alliances in the 1980s and the construction in the 1990s and 2000s. Frederick Salvucci (Senior Lecturer, Center for Transportation and Logistics, MIT) served as transportation advisor to Boston Mayor Kevin White (1970-1974), and then as Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under Governor Michael Dukakis (1975-1978, and again 1983-1990). In those roles he shaped much of the transportation planning and policy in urban Boston and Massachusetts over the past 20 years. Salvucci received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT. From 1964, he spent a year at the University of Naples as a Fulbright Scholar, studying the use of transportation investment to stimulate economic development in high poverty regions of Southern Italy.
	Nuclear Energy Simmons Hall Multi-Purpose Room February 4th, 2011 6:00 pm Organizers: Michael Podowski, Jon Gibbs Professor Michael Podowski and a representative from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be addressing nuclear energy topics. Is nuclear energy safe? What is the impact of nuclear energy on the environment? What is the current U.S. plan for nuclear energy? How does nuclear energy fall into the global energy strategy? Get the answer to these questions on Friday at 6PM in the Simmons MPR. Plus, bring any nuclear related question for an interactive discussion.