MIT Club of Northern California Blog

An update from Doug Spreng, Chair of the new Energy & Clean Tech Committee:

The new committee was formed out of the original MITEI on The Road and the Clean Tech teams. Plus, several new partners and volunteers have been added to the committee.

Web Site

Our web site has been updated and can be found by clicking on “Energy & Clean Tech Series” on the MITCNC home page.

Events

We held our first event Thursday, September 30th, entitled “The Future of Electric Vehicles in California”, featuring three electric vehicle executives and a commissioner from the state of California, moderated by an EPRI program manager. The event was hosted by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, a Menlo Park legal firm in an excellent facility and with

Orrick providing all refreshments. We got about 90 registered attendees, of which several signed up for club membership. The event was organized by Adam Brand, who had a nearly flawless execution.

We intend to facilitate another panel discussion on electric vehicles as a follow-on, focusing on vehicle batteries & storage systems, sometime
in the first half of next year.

Our next event will be a presentation on Tuesday, November 9th at Cooley, Godward LLP, entitled “Going Deep: An Insider View of the Gulf Oil Spill”, featuring MIT Mechanical Engineering professor Alex Slocum, who spent two months during the summer analyzing what went wrong and what could be used to avoid a disaster like this in the future.

We have lined up two other MIT professors to do MITEI on the Road presentations in the areas of solar and storage systems for the first half of next year and are now in the process of brainstorming other events in the areas of solar and entrepreneurial activities in order  to  keep our event flow going at a rate of at least 6 events per year.

To learn more about the MITEI on the Road and the Energy & Clean Tech Committee, check out the www.mitcnc.org web site or sign up for MITEI updates at http://web.mit.edu/mitei/ at http://web.mit.edu/mitei/.

Thank you,
Catherine Calarco
MITCNC President

Hello,

During the last year, the MITCNC celebrated several events. This includes MIT Spotlight ’10 with President Susan Hockfield in April.   Over 300 people attended in a packed room at the Google campus.  Pres Hockfield mixed with the alumni community prior to the presentation.  It was a wonderful opportunity to talk with Susan about topics ranging from the MIT Strategic Initiatives to University finances.   In addition, Pres Hockfield presented the Inspirational Teacher Awards:

• Mr. Marco Giordano, Herbert Hoover Middle School, San Jose
• Mr. Kevin Hartzog, Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, San Francisco

The moment was captured on video at  http://www.mitcnc.org/site/c.muIZLaMMJrE/b.4489189/apps/s/content.asp?ct=7490501

MITCNC’s Annual Meeting was another success!  With over 180 attendees, the group enjoyed the Exploratorium (San Francisco), a wonderfully catered lunch and the officer presentations.   The event was a wonderful opportunity for alumni to get more involved in the club — including participating in the MIT 150th Anniversary Celebrations.  If you would like to get involved in the club, please contact Roshni Cooper rccooper@gmail.com or visit our website at www.mitcnc.org

Annual Meeting Presentation Highlights:

Scholarship Contribution:
MITCNC contributed $20,000 to MIT Scholarship Fund

MITCNC Events and Lives Touched
e-Newsletter to over 9,500 alumni
Over 100 events with more than 2,300 attendees
2 Inspirational Teachers Awards
Several professional development (new jobs, companies and career development)

Welcome to the MIT Club of Northern California!  Please bear with us as we formulate our new blog.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know through the comments.

Thanks,

Rohit