All events

In his proof of the $h$-cobordism theory, Smale showed how Morse functions on high-dimensional simply-connected manifolds can be manipulated and simplified. After reviewing smooth Morse theory, I will give an introduction to the symplectic analog, Weinstein manifolds, which can be manipulated in a similar way, and provide a large class of examples of symplectic manifolds.

BLISS Seminar: Tight regret bounds for a latent variable model of recommendation systems

Seminar | November 8 | 3-4 p.m. | Cory Hall, 400 Cory

Speaker/Performer: Mina Karzand, MIT

Sponsor: Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)

We consider an online model for recommendation systems, with each user being recommended an item at each time-step and providing 'like’ or 'dislike’ feedback. A latent variable model specifies the user preferences: both users and items are clustered into types. \

Coffee Break

Social Event | October 4 – December 6, 2017 every Wednesday with exceptions | 3-4 p.m. | Julie's Cafe

Location: 2562 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sponsor: Berkeley International Office(BIO))

Coffee break is a welcoming weekly hour-long event at the wonderful Julie's Cafe, inviting international students to meet old friends and make new ones. It's a big campus, but at coffee break, everyone knows your name.

Rabbit in the Moon

Film - Documentary | November 8 | 3:10-4:30 p.m. | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Emiko Omori’s poetic documentary brings to first light the courageous acts of protest and even rebellion that marked the Japanese internment during World War II.

Self-avoiding polygons and walks: counting, joining and closing.

Seminar | November 8 | 3:10-4 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Speaker/Performer: Alan Hammond, U.C. Berkeley

Sponsor: Department of Statistics

Self-avoiding walk of length n on the integer lattice Z^d is the uniform measure on nearest-neighbour walks in Z^d that begin at the origin and are of length n. If such a walk closes, which is to say that the walk's endpoint neighbours the origin, it is natural to complete the missing edge connecting this endpoint and the origin. The result of doing so is a self-avoiding polygon. We investigate... More >

C. H. Li Memorial Lecture: Control of cell behavior by mechanotransduction

Seminar | November 8 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. | 100 Genetics & Plant Biology Building

Featured Speaker: Stefano Piccolo, University of Padua

Sponsor: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

C. H. Li Memorial Lectures

Representation Theory and Mathematical Physics Seminar: Algebraic constructions of Markov duality functions

Seminar | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall

Speaker: Jeffrey Kuan, Columbia University

Markov duality in spin chains and exclusion processes has found a wide variety of applications throughout probability theory. We review the duality of the asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) and its underlying algebraic symmetry: in particular, there is an underlying quantum group and affine Lie algebra symmetry. We then explain how the algebraic structure leads to a wide generalization of... More >

Causal inference with interfering units for cluster and population level intervention programs

Seminar | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Speaker/Performer: Fabrizia Mealli, University of Florence

Sponsor: Department of Statistics

Interference arises when an individual's potential outcome
depends on the individual treatment and also on the treatment
of others. A common assumption in the causal inference literature in the
presence of interference is partial interference, implying that the
population can be partitioned in clusters of units whose potential
outcomes only depend on the treatment of other units within the... More >

Investigations of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide/The Future of Lithium Batteries: An Outlook on Ion Transport in Polymer Electrolytes

Colloquium | November 8 | 4-6 p.m. | 180 Tan Hall

Speakers: Ezra Clark, Ph.D. student in the Bell Group; Danielle Pesko, Ph.D. student in the Balsara Group

Sponsor: Department of Chemical Engineering

Chronic Cultural Impossibility: Ideologies that Undermine Health as a Fundamental Social Right

Colloquium | November 8 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 2538 Channing (Inst. for the Study of Societal Issues), Wildavsky Conference Room

Speaker: Clara Mantini-Briggs, Departments of Anthropology and Demography, UC Berkeley

Sponsors: Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, Berkeley Center for Social Medicine

Even when health professionals embrace conceptions of health as a fundamental social right, health practitioners can embrace a framework that, in critical race scholar Denise Silva's terms, “produces and regulates human condition and establishes (morally and intellectually) a distinct kind of human being.” How can a professional commitment to prioritize the health of low-income racialized... More >

Holloway Poetry Series: Mixed Blood Talk with Farid Matuk: Having Been of the Type: Taking Up Orlando Patterson’s Call to Reimagine Freedom

Reading - Literary | November 8 | 4-6:30 p.m. | 306 Wheeler Hall

Featured Speaker: Farid Matuk

The Holloway Series in Poetry and Mixed Blood invite you to join us for a reading and talk by Farid Matuk on Wednesday, November 8. The Mixed Blood talk, "Having Been of the Type: Taking Up Orlando Patterson’s Call to Reimagine Freedom," will be held at 4pm in 306 Wheeler Hall, followed by a reading featuring Farid Matuk and Jessica Laser at 6:30 in the Maude Fife Room (315 Wheeler).

Farid... More >

Applied Math Seminar: A High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Variable-Coefficient Advection-Diffusion Problems

Seminar | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall

Speaker: Raunak Borker, Stanford University

A high-order discontinuous Galerkin method with Lagrange multipliers (DGLM) is presented for the solution of the steady advection-diffusion equation with a variable advection field in the high Peclet number regime. In this regime, the standard finite element method (FEM) might produce non-physical oscillations in the solution at practical mesh resolutions. Like a Discontinuous Enrichment Method... More >

Panel for Graduate Student Applicants

Panel Discussion | November 8 | 4-5:30 p.m. | Wheeler Hall, 330, English Department Lounge

Expert speakers will answer questions and discuss the application process, including the personal statement, letters of recommendation, and the writing sample.

For more information, contact Professor James Turner (grantham@berkeley.edu) or Professor Emily Thornbury (thornbury@berkeley.edu).

EECS Colloquium: Opportunities and Perils in Data Science

Colloquium | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | Soda Hall, 306 (HP Auditorium)

Speaker/Performer: Alfred Z. Spector, Two Sigma

Sponsor: Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)

Over the last few decades, empiricism has become the third leg of computer science, adding to the field’s traditional bases in mathematical analysis and engineering. This shift has occurred due to the sheer growth in the scale of computation, networking, and usage as well as progress in machine learning and related technologies. Resulting data-driven approaches have led to extremely powerful... More >

Haas Scholars Program Info Session

Information Session | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | 9 Durant Hall

Speaker/Performer: Leah Carroll, Haas Scholars

Sponsor: Office of Undergraduate Research

Learn about how to apply to this research program for your last year!

The Haas Scholars Program supports twenty undergraduates with financial need with their interest for conducting research during their final year at UC-Berkeley. Applicants are evaluated primarily on the merit and originality of their proposal for an independent research or creative project that will serve as the basis for a... More >

Python FUN!damentals: Part 2

Workshop | November 8 | 4-7 p.m. | 405 Moffitt Undergraduate Library

Speaker/Performer: Chris Gagne, D-Lab

Sponsor: Library

This four-part, interactive workshop series is your complete introduction to programming Python for people with little or no previous programming experience. By the end of the series, you will be able to apply your knowledge of basic principles of programming and data manipulation to a real-world social science application.

Attendance restrictions: Cal ID required to enter Moffitt Library

Registration recommended: free

Registration info: Register online

Topology Seminar (Main Talk): Simplifying Weinstein Morse functions

Seminar | November 8 | 4-5 p.m. | 3 Evans Hall

Speaker: Oleg Lazarev, Columbia

By work of Cieliebak and Eliashberg, any Weinstein structure on Euclidean space that is not symplectomorphic to the standard symplectic structure necessarily has at least three critical points; an infinite collection of such exotic examples were constructed by McLean. Hence Smale's $h$-cobordism theorem fails in the symplectic setting. Nonetheless I will explain why this lower bound on the number... More >

Using Light and Photoregulated Allosteric Ligands for the Precise Spatiotemporal Control of mGluRs Activity In Vivo

Seminar | November 8 | 4 p.m. | 177 Life Sciences Addition

Speaker/Performer: Amadeu Llebaria, Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia

Sponsor: Neuroscience Institute, Helen Wills

WordPress for Easy and Attractive Websites

Workshop | November 8 | 4:10-5 p.m. | Barrows Hall, D-Lab (Barrows 350)

Speaker/Performer: Stacy Reardon

Sponsor: Library

In this hands-on workshop, we will learn the basics of creating a WordPress site, a web-based platform good for blogs, scholarly portfolios, and websites. By the end of the workshop, you will know how to post content, embed images and video, customize themes and appearance, and work with plugins. Please bring a laptop if possible.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Deploy Black-Box Models: The Importance of Intelligibility in Machine Learning for Bias Detection and Prevention

Lecture | November 8 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 202 South Hall

Speaker: Rich Caruana, Microsoft Research

Sponsor: Information, School of

In machine learning often a trade-off must be made between accuracy and intelligibility: the most accurate models usually are not very intelligible (e.g., deep nets and random forests), and the most intelligible models usually are less accurate (e.g., linear or logistic regression). This trade-off often limits the accuracy of models that can be safely deployed in mission-critical applications... More >

Kashmiri Women in Resistance: Indian Occupation and Silenced Histories

Lecture | November 8 | 4:30-6:15 p.m. | 132 Boalt Hall, School of Law

Panelist/Discussants: Huma Dar; Idrisa Pandit

Sponsor: Unlearning India

A conversation about the agency of Kashmiri women in resisting the violence of Indian occupation.

Accel Partners Panel

Information Session | November 8 | 5-6:30 p.m. | Soda Hall, Wozniak Lounge (430)

Sponsor: Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)

For applicants to the Accel Scholars program, Accel Partners and a select group of founders will be talking about their experiences.

Confirmed in attendance will be Joel Flory and Greg Lutze, founders of Vsco, and Lucy Gao, co-founder of Scale (YC S16).

In addition, Accel partner Steve Loughlin former CEO of Relate IQ (acquired by Salesforce) and advisor to Palantir, will also be in... More >

Attendance restrictions: Invite-Only for Prior Applicants to the Accel Scholars Program.

New Work in 20+21st Century Literature

Seminar | November 8 | 5-7 p.m. | 300 Wheeler Hall

Speakers/Performers: Sam Alexander, Endicott College; Madison Moore, King's College, London

Works-in-progress seminar with pre-circulated readings

Transportation Mixer

Social Event | November 8 | 5 p.m. | 412 McLaughlin Hall

Sponsor: Cal ITE

On Nov. 8 at 5 pm, there will be a Transportation Mixer in the 4th floor ITS Library for transportation faculty & staff, students, and professionals. Please come socialize with our undergraduate, masters, and PhD students, past graduates, and other ITS faculty and staff. Cal ITE, a transportation student group, will be funding the event and there will be food and beverages provided!

Combinatory Digital Poetics in Electronic Literature and Film

Lecture | November 8 | 5-6:30 p.m. | 127 Dwinelle Hall

Featured Speaker: Scott Rettberg, Professor of Digital Culture, University of Bergen, Norway

Sponsors: Berkeley Center for New Media, Digital Humanities at Berkeley

Aleatory and combinatory poetic methods have been an ongoing concern of the avant-garde stretching back to the early 20th century, and have crystallised as one of the main threads of practice in electronic literature. Scott Rettberg will discuss how an interest in combinatory poetics reflected first in projects such as the poetry generators “Frequency,” “Tokyo Garage,” and “After Parthenope”... More >

Food Systems Career Panel

Career Fair | November 8 | 5-7:30 p.m. | David Brower Center, Tamalpais Room

Location: 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sponsors: Berkeley Food Institute, BEACN, FEED, FoodInno, Food@Haas, Food and Agriculture Policy Group, Food Science and Tech at Cal, GradFood, Berkeley Food Institute Undergraduate and Graduate Student Councils, UC Global Food Initiative Student Ambassador

Interested in a career in transforming food systems? Come network with local leaders from across the food and agriculture sector.

Registration required:Free

Registration info: Register online

Sittwe

Film - Documentary | November 8 | 5-7 p.m. | Boalt Hall, School of Law, 175 (Booth Auditorium) | Note change in date and location

Panelist/Discussants: Jeanne Hallacy, filmmaker; U Myo Win, Smile Education and Development Foundation (Yangon); Kenneth Wong, Lecturer, South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley

Moderators: Andrea Lampros, Communications Director, Human Rights Center; Eric Stover, Faculty Director, Human Rights Center

Sponsors: Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Human Rights Center

This event will feature the screening of a short documentary about two teenagers affected by conflict in Burma’s Rakhine state in 2012, followed by a panel discussion.

Sittwe

UC Berkeley Career Connections: Biotech: Bio-Tech Connect: Alumni Night

Reception | November 8 | 6-8 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall

Sponsor: Bioengineering (BioE)

Join us to talk with alumni currently working in biotech. This year's theme is "Translating your skills from college to career." Learn how to talk about skills learned in school when applying for a job or internship.

Register and learn more in Handshake https://berkeley.joinhandshake.com/events/63044

500 Years: Life in Resistance: Cine Latino

Film - Feature | November 8 | 6-8 p.m. | 105 North Gate Hall

Sponsor: Center for Latin American Studies

Focusing on universal themes of justice, racism, power and corruption, 500 Years is told from the perspective of the majority indigenous Mayan population, and explores their struggles in the country’s growing fight against impunity. 105 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles.

Cosmic Knowledge and the Long-term Strategy of the Human Race: The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture in Astronomy

Lecture | November 8 | 6-8 p.m. | Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center

Speaker/Performer: Sandra Faber, Professor Emerita of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Sponsor: Department of Astronomy

Thriving in Science November Seminar: Focus and Energy Workshop

Seminar | November 8 | 6-7:30 p.m. | 105 Stanley Hall

Speaker/Performer: Sahar Yousef & Lucas Miller

Sponsor: Thriving in Science

Toastmasters on Campus Club: Learn public speaking

Meeting | July 2, 2014 – December 26, 2018 every Wednesday | 6:15-7:30 p.m. | 3119 Etcheverry Hall

Sponsor: Toastmasters on Campus

Toastmasters has been the world leader in teaching public speaking since 1924. Meetings are an enjoyable, safe, self-paced course designed to get you up and running as a speaker in only a few months.

The Great Debate

Panel Discussion | November 8 | 6:30-8 p.m. | A1 Hearst Field Annex

Performer Groups:

Cal Berkeley Democrats, Cal Berkeley Democrats

Berkeley Conservative Society, Berkeley Conservative Society

Sponsor: Center on Civility and Democratic Engagement

Come out to see Cal Berkeley Democrats debate the Berkeley Conservative Society! Both sides will debate their views on current political topics, ranging from foreign policy to healthcare. We encourage people of all political views to come and watch, and to watch their peers engage in debate.

Holloway Series in Poetry: Farid Matuk reading with Jessica Laser

Reading - Literary | November 8 | 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Wheeler Hall, 315 Maude Fife

Featured Speakers: Farid Matuk; Jessica Laser

South

Film - Feature | November 8 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Chantal Akerman’s film on the American South “conjures the ghosts of the hate crimes and lynchings that have plagued that part of the US for decades. [South] makes its sorrowful points succinctly” (Variety).

Exhibits and Ongoing Events

People Made These Things: Connecting with the Makers of Our World

Exhibit - Multimedia | April 12 – December 17, 2017 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday with exceptions | Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 102 Kroeber Hall

Sponsor: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Why do we sometimes know a lot about who made things, and why do we sometimes not? Why does it sometimes matter to us, and why might it sometimes not? These are the questions that will be raised in the exhibit that will inaugurate the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology’s renovated Kroeber Hall Gallery. The Museum will display objects from the collection that urge visitors to think... More >

Tickets required: Free UC Berkeley Students, Faculty, Staff, Hearst Museum Members, and Youth under 18, $6 General Admisison, $3 Non-UC Berkeley Students and seniors over 65

In-Between Places: Korean American Artists in the Bay Area

Exhibit - Painting | September 13 – December 10, 2017 every day | Mills College Art Museum

Location: 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613

Sponsor: Mills College Art Museum

In-Between Places (사이에 머물다) is the story of Korean American artists and their dreams, featuring new work by: Jung Ran Bae; Sohyung Choi; Kay Kang; Miran Lee; Young June Lew; Nicholas Oh; Younhee Paik; and Minji Sohn.

Street by Minji Sohn, 2016

Jennie Smith: New Drawings

Exhibit - Painting | September 18 – December 15, 2017 every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | Stephens Hall, Townsend Center for the Humanities

Sponsor: Townsend Center for the Humanities

San Francisco artist Jennie Smith infuses her detailed drawings of the natural world with an imaginative sensibility.

Viewing hours are generally Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm. The exhibit is located in a space also used for events and meetings; please call (510) 643-9670 or email in advance to confirm room availability.

The Russian Revolution Centenary: 1917-2017: Politics, Propaganda and People's Art

Exhibit - Multimedia | September 11, 2017 – January 8, 2018 every day | Moffitt Undergraduate Library

Sponsor: Library

This exhibition is dedicated to the centenary of the Russian Revolution that took place in October of 1917. The exhibition will take place in the Moffitt Library, and it will highlight several print-items from the revolutionary times.

Attendance restrictions: Access to the Moffitt Undergraduate Library is restricted and you'll need the UC Berkeley/ Cal Card for entry.

Gordon Parks: The Making of an Argument

Exhibit - Photography | October 6 – December 17, 2017 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

This investigation of the editorial process behind Parks's photo-essay "Harlem Gang Leader" reveals unspoken conflicts between photographer, editor, subject, and truth.

Miyoko Ito/ MATRIX 267

Exhibit - Painting | October 6, 2017 – January 28, 2018 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Discover the singular vision of a Berkeley-born artist whose paintings explore both exterior and interior landscapes.

Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou

Exhibit - Painting | October 25, 2017 – January 28, 2018 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Chen Hongshou is a major figure in Chinese art of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. This exhibition explores his visually compelling work and his response to the turmoil of his times.

Veronica De Jesus/ MATRIX 268

Exhibit - Multimedia | October 25, 2017 – February 25, 2018 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

De Jesus's memorial portraits honor artists, writers, and diverse cultural figures, testifying to the fact that each life is valuable and worthy of recognition.

Buddhist Realms

Exhibit - Multimedia | October 25, 2017 – April 22, 2018 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

This presentation showcases exquisite examples of Buddhist art from the Himalayan region.

On the Hour/ Hayoun Kwon

Exhibit - Multimedia | November 1 – December 29, 2017 every Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Commissioned for BAMPFA’s outdoor screen, Kwon’s imaginative digital animation evokes a woman who transformed her apartment into an aviary.

Fiat Yuks: Cal Student Humor, Then and Now

Exhibit - Artifacts | October 16, 2017 – June 3, 2018 every day | Bancroft Library, Rowell Cases, 2nd floor corridor between The Bancroft Library and Doe Library

Sponsor: Bancroft Library

Let there be laughter! This exhibition features Cal students’
cartoons, jokes, and satire throughout the years selected
from their humor magazines and other publications.

The Summer of Love 50th Anniversary

Exhibit - Artifacts | July 21 – December 29, 2017 every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 9 a.m.-5 p.m. | Bancroft Library, Bancroft Corridor between The Bancroft Library and Doe Library

Sponsor: Bancroft Library

Marking a 50th anniversary, Bancroft’s rare and unique collections documenting the 1967 “Summer of Love” are on exhibit in the corridor cases. Presented are images from the Bay Area alternative press, psychedelic rock posters and mailers, documentary photographs of the Haight-Ashbury scene and major rock concerts, and material from the personal papers of author Joan Didion and poet Michael... More >

¡Viva La Fiesta! Mexican Traditions of Celebration

Exhibit - Artifacts | October 13, 2017 – February 28, 2018 every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Bancroft Library, The Bancroft Library Gallery

Sponsor: Bancroft Library

¡Viva la Fiesta! explores the cycle of traditional religious and
patriotic celebrations that have for centuries marked the
Mexican calendar. The exhibition draws on unique historical
representations of the fiestas and examines their relationship
to communal identities, national politics, religious practices,
and indigenous customs. These original materials, which are
preserved in the... More >

The Invisible Museum: History and Memory of Morocco

Exhibit - Multimedia | August 29 – December 15, 2017 every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (2121 Allston Way)

Since its inception in 1962, the former Judah L. Magnes Museum distinguished itself by directing its collecting efforts outside the focus on European Jewish culture and history that was prevalent among American Jewish museums at the time. During the 1970s and 1980s, its founders, Seymour and Rebecca Fromer, actively corralled an informal team of activist collectors and supporters. Together, they... More >

Sketching "Fiddler": Set Designs by Mentor Huebner

Exhibit - Multimedia | August 29 – December 15, 2017 every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (2121 Allston Way)

The Power of Attention: Magic and Meditation in Hebrew "shiviti" Manuscript Art

Exhibit - Artifacts | August 29 – December 15, 2017 every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (2121 Allston Way)

Created from the early-modern period and into the present, shiviti manuscripts are found in Hebrew prayer books, ritual textiles, and on the walls of synagogues and homes throughout the Jewish diaspora. Wrestling with ways to externalize the presence of God in Jewish life, these documents center upon the graphic representation of God's ineffable four-letter Hebrew name, the Tetragrammaton, and... More >

The Worlds of Arthur Szyk: The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection

Exhibit - Multimedia | August 29 – December 15, 2017 every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (2121 Allston Way)