2025 James R. Killian, Jr. Award and Lecture Series by: John D. Joannopoulos; Working at the Speed of Light Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics Director, Institute for Soldier NanotechnologiesLecture will begin at 4 pm in 10-250, followed by a reception in The Nexus, MIT LibrariesJohn Joannopoulos, an innovator and mentor in the fields of theoretical condensed matter physics and nanophotonics, has been named the recipient of the 2024-2025 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award.Joannopoulos is the Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics and director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. He has been a member of the MIT faculty for 50 years.Read more on MIT NewsAbout the James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award and Lecture Series: The purpose of the Killian Award is to recognize extraordinary professional achievement by MIT faculty members and to communicate their accomplishments to members of the Institute community. The recipient of the Killian Award holds the title of Killian Award Lecturer for the following academic year and presents, during that time, one or more lectures to the MIT community on his or her own professional activities. The Killian Award selection is made by faculty members elected by vote of the Faculty from a slate prepared by the Faculty Nominations Committee. Visit the Killian Award and Lecture site.■ ■ ■The Killian Lecture is open to all members of the MIT community. No registration is required, but we do suggest arriving a few minutes early to ensure a seat. Live Streamtext captioning will be available via mobile devices.This lecture will not be webcast, but it will be recorded and posted on the Killian Lecture website in the days following.Questions? Contact Photo credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT

Bristol-Myers Squibb Lectures with Matthew S. Sigman (University of Utah) and Denise Grünenfelder (Bristol-Myers Squibb)Sigman Talk Title: TBABMS Talk Title: TBAhttps://www.sigmanlab.com/

As part of MIT's Day of Climate, this professional development session is for Earth Story: Building With The Ground We Walk On For Climate Resilience.Globally, construction accounts for nearly 40% of annual carbon emissions. At the same time, many cities need to grow rapidly to provide equitable housing for their inhabitants. The project will build a hands-on curriculum focused on exploring and creating new innovation in the critical area of low-carbon, low-cost housing. It will engage 3D printing with locally sourced materials to rapidly prototype structures with students that speak to a climate-resilient future of building and design.To make the curriculum more broadly accessible, lesson plans and web based tools will be produced to allow students of all ages and subjects to engage with the research to understand climate change and the work being done to create resilient cities.Register for this in-person professional development session.

Recreational swims provide a fun and engaging way for children and parents to practice new skills, stay active, and enjoy quality time together in the pool with the MIT community.No Z Center (MIT Recreation - Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center) membership is required to participate.A parent or caregiver must accompany children in the water. Per Z Center policy, each adult may supervise up to two children at a time.Children must be at least 6 months old to join. If younger, they must be able to hold their head up comfortably. Registration is here. Only for MIT Spouses and Partners Connect members.

Davide Viviano (Harvard University)

Speaker: Shivam Nadimpalli (MIT)Title: Gaussian Polytope ApproximationAbstract: We study the approximability of high-dimensional convex sets by intersections of halfspaces, where the approximation quality is measured with respect to the standard Gaussian distribution and the complexity of an approximation is the number of halfspaces used.We establish a range of upper and lower bounds both for general convex sets and for specific natural convex sets that are of particular interest. We rely on techniques from many different areas, including classical results from convex geometry, Cramér-type bounds from probability theory, and—perhaps surprisingly—a range of topics from computational complexity theory, including computational learning theory, unconditional pseudorandomness, and the study of influences and noise sensitivity in the analysis of Boolean functions.Based on joint work with Anindya De and Rocco Servedio: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.08575. ;