Festival Guide

Festival Guide

Festival Guide

Welcome to Cambridge Science Festival 2023!

 

Here you can find a listing for every event at this year’s Festival. Simply click on listings to find out more, including information about the organizer, the venue, and how to reserve your ticket! Every event is free and open to the public, but many have limited capacity. Get your tickets soon to avoid missing out.

Use the dropdown menus to search for events on specific dates, or in different categories. If you’re not sure where to start, click here to find out more about this year’s themes and series.

DATE
EVENT
ORGANIZER
SERIES
TAGS
START TIME
Monday
Sep 25
Sep 25, 1 pm - 2:30 pm
In the Neighborhood
The Hidden Music of Amino Acids
The Hidden Music of Amino Acids
The Orchestra On The Hill
The Orchestra On The Hill
In the Neighborhood
BIOLOGY MIT MUSEUM MUSIC PANEL DISCUSSION
1 pm
DESCRIPTION

Join The Orchestra on the Hill’s Thomas Palance and Chris Florio as they offer compositions they have written based on the vibrations of amino acids.

The practice, using exact and approximate measured vibrations of amino acids as equated to the equal tempered musical scale, results in interesting possibilities in musical composition not yet explored.

The demonstration will be followed by an open discussion about the many possibilities for the use of this technique in new music and STEAM education.

Audience participation will be welcomed!

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
1 pm

END TIME
2:30 pm
Find out more about The Orchestra On The Hill.
Tuesday
Sep 26
Sep 26, 6 pm - 7:30 pm
In the Neighborhood
Arachnodrone Performance and Panel Discussion: Sonification: Hearing Black Holes, Spiders, and Mycelium
Arachnodrone Performance and Panel Discussion: Sonification: Hearing Black Holes, Spiders, and Mycelium
MIT Museum
FEATURED EVENT
MIT Museum
FEATURED EVENT
In the Neighborhood
MIT MUSEUM MUSIC PANEL DISCUSSION PERFORMANCE
6 pm
DESCRIPTION

Arachnodrone, an artistic installation, scientific exploration, and a musical instrument soon to be on view at the MIT Museum is based on a tent-web made by a Cyrtophora citricola spider.

Join us for a performance combining spider web sonification, electronics, and musical improvisation, followed by a panel discussion with MIT scientists and artists.

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
6 pm

END TIME
7:30 pm

This event is at reservation capacity, but there are likely to be a number of tickets available in person. Arrive early to avoid missing out!
Find out more about MIT Museum.
Wednesday
Sep 27
Sep 27, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
In the Neighborhood
#IfThenSheCan – Opening Celebration
#IfThenSheCan – Opening Celebration
#IfThenSheCan
FEATURED EVENT
#IfThenSheCan
FEATURED EVENT
In the Neighborhood
FAMILY FRIENDLY LUMINARY WOMEN MIT MUSEUM PANEL DISCUSSION
3:30 pm
DESCRIPTION

The Opening Celebration for #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit – Cambridge Science Festival’s headline event.

Join the women who are represented as statues in #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit, part of Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ nation-wide IF/THEN® Initiative to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers. Women thought-leaders and change-makers from a variety of STEM fields will share stories of their experiences, illustrating what is possible, what needs to change, and what lies ahead.

The IF/THEN® Initiative seeks to further advance women in STEM by empowering current innovators and inspiring the next generation of pioneers. From protecting wildlife, discovering galaxies, fighting superbugs, to choreographing robots, the STEM innovators featured as statues were selected in 2019 through a rigorous process that identified them as leaders in their fields.

A pop-up of #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit, featuring 30 of these STEM role models as life-sized 3D-printed statues will be installed in the Kendall/MIT Open Space for the duration of the Festival – from Monday, September 25 – Sunday, October 1. Find out more.

In collaboration with Cambridge-based Science Club for Girls, the Opening Celebration features leading STEM women from Cambridge and across the country, including young girls featured in the “Only 4%” campaign to support the organization’s free programs which foster excitement, confidence, and literacy in STEM for girls and gender-expansive youth from underrepresented communities. SCFG’s campaign provides free, experiential programs and maximizes meaningful interactions with women-in-STEM mentors.

Immediately following the Opening Celebration, we invite you to Only 4% – The Launch Party from 4.30-6.30pm at the MIT Welcome Center. Find out more and reserve your ticket here.

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
3:30 pm

END TIME
4:30 pm

This event is at reservation capacity, but there will be a number of tickets available in person. Arrive early to avoid missing out!

ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

Find out more about #IfThenSheCan.
Thursday
Sep 28
Sep 28, 4 pm - 6 pm
In the Neighborhood
Transforming AI with iFp Emerging Innovators: Equity, Justice and You
Transforming AI with iFp Emerging Innovators: Equity, Justice and You
Innovators for Purpose
Innovators for Purpose
In the Neighborhood
AI CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY LECTURE PANEL DISCUSSION
4 pm
DESCRIPTION

Get ready to be part of an exclusive behind-the-scenes reveal of iFp Emerging Innovators’ latest project: “Transforming AI: Equity, Justice, and You.”

Our Innovators, all aged 14 and up, are excited about the potential of AI tools. However, they are also deeply concerned about the rising mistakes and harms that come with the technology. Join us for a special open house event where you’ll get an insider’s look into our early research.

Your feedback will play a pivotal role in shaping the final version of “Transforming AI” which will run throughout the school year for students in grades 7-12.

We’re wrapping up the event with a fireside chat, moderated by iFp Innovators themselves. If you’re passionate about making AI more equitable and just for all, we can’t wait to welcome you!

This program is appropriate for adults and teens.

LOCATION
Cambridge Public Library, Main Branch
449 Broadway
Cambridge MA
02138
Map link
START TIME
4 pm

END TIME
6 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

Innovators for Purpose (iFp) is a BIPOC-led non-profit design and innovation studio in Cambridge, MA that empowers young people, especially those from historically marginalized groups, to become innovators who create a positive impact in the world, changing their communities and their own lives for the better.

Find out more about Innovators for Purpose.
Thursday
Sep 28
Sep 28, 4 pm - 5:30 pm
Health Equity
Black Girl Magic: Reproductive Justice Edition
Black Girl Magic: Reproductive Justice Edition
Birth By Us
FEATURED EVENT
Birth By Us
FEATURED EVENT
Health Equity
HEALTH PANEL DISCUSSION
4 pm
DESCRIPTION

Inspired by the work of grassroots, Black-led organizations tackling the Black maternal health crisis, this panel focuses on the effects of racism in healthcare and examines the positive effects of patient empowerment, intentional legislation, and inclusive research to address disparities in reproductive health and justice. This discussion shines a light on innovations and shared experience with high-quality, culturally-affirming care for underserved communities.

FURTHER INFORMATION

MODERATOR

Jazmine Richardson
Jazmine Richardson is graduate student in the MS in Innovation and Management (MSIM) + MS in Biomedical Engineering program at Tufts University. Richardson’s work explores transforming lives through science, policy, and education and tackling health disparities faced among communities of color.

PANELISTS

Mercy Oladipo
Mercy Oladipo is an MIT alumni with a joint major in computer science and molecular biology. She uses her coding skills to build tools addressing disparities in health care. Oladipo is the cofounder of Birth By Us, a pregnancy and postpartum app built by and for Black women.

Dr. Vanessa Robinson
Dr. Vanessa Robinson is a health equity research scientist with over 15 years of public health experience. Dr. Robinson is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at Tufts University’s School of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine.

LOCATION
The Welcome Center
292 Main Street
Building E-38
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
4 pm

END TIME
5:30 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

Birth By US is the pregnancy & postpartum app for Black women.

Find out more about Birth By Us.
Thursday
Sep 28
Sep 28, 6 pm - 7:30 pm
Health Equity
Blind Spots in Health Equity
Blind Spots in Health Equity
MIT Museum
FEATURED EVENT
MIT Museum
FEATURED EVENT
Health Equity
HEALTH MIT MUSEUM PANEL DISCUSSION
6 pm
DESCRIPTION

With over 100 million people displaced globally due to conflict, climate change and persecution, the need for rigorous, inclusive, ethical and sustainable solutions to ease the suffering of vulnerable communities has never been greater.

Historically, scientists and engineers have played a relatively modest role in addressing refugee crises and forced displacement challenges. However this is changing with a number of positive developments in recent years.

Centering on health equity, our panel will talk about some of these developments.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Dr. Muhammad Zaman is an HHMI professor of Biomedical Engineering and Global Health at Boston University. He received his master’s and P.h.D from the University of Chicago. In addition to five books and over 130 peer-reviewed research articles, Professor Zaman has written extensively on innovation, refugee and global health in newspapers around the world. His newspaper columns have appeared in over 30 countries and have been translated into eight languages. He has won numerous awards for his teaching and research, the most recent being Guggenheim Fellowship (2020) for his work on antibiotic resistance in refugee camps.

Panellists

Allison McDonald – Assistant Professor of Computing & Data Sciences, Boston University

Daniel Parker – Associate Professor of Population Health & Disease Prevention, University of California, Irvine

Devin Bowes – Assistant Professor, USC Arnold School of Public Health

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
6 pm

END TIME
7:30 pm
Find out more about MIT Museum.
Thursday
Sep 28
Sep 28, 6 pm - 7:30 pm
In the Neighborhood
Cyberfeminism Index: Performative Book Reading and Discussion
Cyberfeminism Index: Performative Book Reading and Discussion
MIT List Visual Arts Center
MIT List Visual Arts Center
In the Neighborhood
PANEL DISCUSSION PERFORMANCE
6 pm
DESCRIPTION

MIT List Visual Arts Center will host the book launch for designer and editor Mindy Seu’s Cyberfeminism Index. The event will feature a performative reading by Seu and conversation with Kendra Albert.

In Cyberfeminism Index, hackers, scholars, artists, and activists of all regions, races and sexual orientations consider how humans might reconstruct themselves by way of technology. When learning about internet history, we are taught to focus on engineering, the military-industrial complex, and the grandfathers who created the architecture and protocol, but the internet is not only a network of cables, servers, and computers. It is an environment that shapes and is shaped by its inhabitants and their use.

Edited by designer, professor, and researcher Mindy Seu, it includes more than 700 short entries of radical techno-critical activism in a variety of media, including excerpts from academic articles and scholarly texts; descriptions of hackerspaces, digital rights activist groups, and bio-hacktivism; and depictions of feminist net art and new media art. Both a vital introduction for laypeople and a robust resource guide for educators, Cyberfeminism Index—an anti-canon, of sorts—celebrates the multiplicity of practices that fall under this imperfect categorization and makes visible cyberfeminism’s long-ignored origins and its expansive legacy.

LOCATION
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Bartos Theatre
20 Ames Street
Building E15
Cambridge MA
02139
Map link
START TIME
6 pm

END TIME
7:30 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

The List Visual Arts Center is a creative laboratory that provides artists with a space to freely experiment and push existing boundaries.

As the contemporary art museum at MIT, the List Center has three gallery spaces where curators present a dynamic program of six to nine contemporary exhibitions annually.

Find out more about MIT List Visual Arts Center.
Thursday
Sep 28
Sep 28, 6 pm - 7 pm
Health Equity
Distribution Shifts: Managing bias in AI and health
Distribution Shifts: Managing bias in AI and health
MIT Jameel Clinic
MIT Jameel Clinic
Health Equity
AI HEALTH PANEL DISCUSSION
6 pm
DESCRIPTION

You get what you give. Researchers, clinicians, business leaders, and policymakers are increasingly aware of how AI learns biases from datasets. Jameel Clinic researchers discuss what we can do to reduce bias when training machine learning models in health.

LOCATION
The Welcome Center
292 Main Street
Building E-38
Cambridge MA
02139
Map link
START TIME
6 pm

END TIME
7 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

The Jameel Clinic supports research focused on clinical AI, drug discovery, and epidemiology.

Find out more about MIT Jameel Clinic.
Friday
Sep 29
Sep 29, 5 pm - 6:30 pm
Art at Night
Improbable Dramatic Readings
Improbable Dramatic Readings
Improbable Research
FEATURED EVENT
Improbable Research
FEATURED EVENT
Art at Night
ARTS PANEL DISCUSSION PERFORMANCE
5 pm
DESCRIPTION

Improbable Dramatic Readings is a satirical event devised by Marc Abrahams, founder of the cult-favorite Ig Nobel Prizes. Science luminaries (of various wattage) will each do brief dramatic readings from seemingly absurd but totally genuine research studies and patents. They will then take questions from the audience — despite having no previous knowledge of the studies they will be reading — and must do their best to justify and make sense of the madness.

An evening that makes you laugh…then think.

FURTHER INFORMATION

This event has multiple listings as it takes place at the following times:
Friday September 29, 5pm
Friday September 29, 7pm

LOCATION
MIT Welcome Center
292 Main Street
Building E38
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
5 pm

END TIME
6:30 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

A History of the Ceremony

Every September, in a gala ceremony in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, 1100 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the new winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed to them by genuine (and genuinely bemused) Nobel Laureates. Thousands more, around the world, watch the live broadcast online. During these pandemic years, the ceremony happened entirely online.

Magazine (Annals of Improbable Research)

Real research, about anything and everything, from everywhere — research that’s maybe good or bad, important or trivial, valuable or worthless. Compiled for you, by the producers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Six (6) new Improbable magazine issues every year!

About Marc Abrahams

Le Monde called Marc “pape de la science improbable” [the Pope of improbable science]. The Washington Post called him “the nation’s guru of academic grunge.” The Journal of the American Medical Association called him “the Puck of Science.” He has been called many other things. The Guardian said Marc’s writing is “rationalism taken to intoxicating extremes“.

Find out more about Improbable Research.
Friday
Sep 29
Sep 29, 7 pm - 8:30 pm
Art at Night
Improbable Dramatic Readings
Improbable Dramatic Readings
Improbable Research
FEATURED EVENT
Improbable Research
FEATURED EVENT
Art at Night
ARTS PANEL DISCUSSION PERFORMANCE
7 pm
DESCRIPTION

Improbable Dramatic Readings is a satirical event devised by Marc Abrahams, founder of the cult-favorite Ig Nobel Prizes. Science luminaries (of various wattage) will each do brief dramatic readings from seemingly absurd but totally genuine research studies and patents. They will then take questions from the audience — despite having no previous knowledge of the studies they will be reading — and must do their best to justify and make sense of the madness.

An evening that makes you laugh…then think.

FURTHER INFORMATION

This event has multiple listings as it takes place at the following times:
Friday September 29, 5pm
Friday September 29, 7pm

LOCATION
MIT Welcome Center
292 Main Street
Building E38
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
7 pm

END TIME
8:30 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

A History of the Ceremony

Every September, in a gala ceremony in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, 1100 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the new winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed to them by genuine (and genuinely bemused) Nobel Laureates. Thousands more, around the world, watch the live broadcast online. During these pandemic years, the ceremony happened entirely online.

Magazine (Annals of Improbable Research)

Real research, about anything and everything, from everywhere — research that’s maybe good or bad, important or trivial, valuable or worthless. Compiled for you, by the producers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Six (6) new Improbable magazine issues every year!

About Marc Abrahams

Le Monde called Marc “pape de la science improbable” [the Pope of improbable science]. The Washington Post called him “the nation’s guru of academic grunge.” The Journal of the American Medical Association called him “the Puck of Science.” He has been called many other things. The Guardian said Marc’s writing is “rationalism taken to intoxicating extremes“.

Find out more about Improbable Research.
Saturday
Sep 30
Sep 30, 3 pm - 4 pm
Fashion
The Science of Smart Textiles
The Science of Smart Textiles
Swissnex
FEATURED EVENT
Swissnex
FEATURED EVENT
Fashion
FASHION MIT MUSEUM PANEL DISCUSSION
3 pm
DESCRIPTION

We are in the middle of a material science revolution aiming to protect the planet.  Climate-focused textile entrepreneurs are driving innovation around the world through the development of sustainable and environmentally responsible products and technologies.  This panel explores real world solutions for science in service to nature with fully performant and damage free membranes, with lab grown cotton that reduces the consumption of water, to reduce forced labor risk, use of pesticides and carbon emission.

This event is presented in collaboration with Swissnex.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Panelists:   

Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of GALY – winner of LVHM Innovation Award for Sustainability

Mario Stucki, Co-Founder of DIMPORA – winner of the H&M Foundation Global Change Award

 

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
3 pm

END TIME
4 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

Swissnex is the Swiss global network connecting Switzerland and the world in education, research and innovation. Our mission is to support our partner’s outreach and active engagement in the international exchange of knowledge, ideas and talent. The six main Swissnex locations are established in the world’s most innovative regions. Together with around 20 Science Offices and Counselors based in Swiss embassies, we contribute to strengthen Switzerland’s profile as a world-leading hotspot of innovation.

Find out more about Swissnex.
Saturday
Sep 30
Sep 30, 6 pm - 7:30 pm
In the Neighborhood
‘The Artist & the Astronaut’ Film Screening
‘The Artist & the Astronaut’ Film Screening
MIT Museum
MIT Museum
In the Neighborhood
MIT MUSEUM PANEL DISCUSSION SCREENING SPACE
6 pm
DESCRIPTION

The museum is proud to present selections from the acclaimed Woods Hole Film Festival, a showcase of independent film and the oldest independent film festival on Cape Cod and the Islands.

The Artist & the Astronaut tells the unlikely love story between the artist Pat Musick, a civil rights activist, and the Apollo astronaut Jerry Carr as they participate in some of the most historic events in human history. The film is filled with never-before-seen footage of the early space pioneers and features interviews with key figures from that era. It chronicles Pat’s and Jerry’s vastly different paths as they traverse uncertain times, eventually coming together to render some of America’s most enduring art. The Artist & the Astronaut is an uplifting love story proving that curiosity, perseverance, and empathy for others can be powerful agents of change.

The story of the making of this documentary is as unlikely as the story depicted in the film. Bill Muench, a full-time teacher, and basketball coach, at the urging of his wife, decides to make a documentary on a local Vermont couple. He embarked on this journey with no plan or budget. In the next six years, he traveled to nine states and two continents to interview numerous Apollo Astronauts, their wives, award-winning authors, artists, art historians, and even NASA directors of mission control. Eventually teaming with music legend Todd Hobin, they produce a story that otherwise would have never been told.

A Q & A with filmmaker Bill Muench and composer Todd Hobin will follow the screening.

LOCATION
MIT Museum
314 Main Street
Building E-28
Cambridge MA
02142
Map link
START TIME
6 pm

END TIME
7:30 pm
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER

Find out more about The Artist & the Astronaut.

Find out more about MIT Museum.
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