The MIT SP Graduate Student Dinner Seminar Series provides the institute wide platform for students to communicate their research and passion to a large audience outside of their own field, in low-pressure, diverse, inclusive, and collaborative environment. 

Dinner Served

Sponsors: Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE)

Speakers

Richard Riccardo Zhang
MIT  Department of Mathematics 
# Beyond Cambridge Analytica: the Future AI-Driven Political Campaigning

Abstract
Cambridge Analytica just filed for bankruptcy. The infamous political data consulting firm had caused a public outcry when a NYTimes article in March revealed the firm’s unconscionable collection of over 50 million Facebook user data to for the Trump campaign in 2016. Both tech firms and lawmakers quickly condemned CA and vowed for greater Internet privacy and data security. Cambridge Analytica may be crushed and gone, but its legacy lives on. The purpose of this talk is to explore the future of AI-driven political campaigning. We will start with a brief review of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, learn about the state-of-the arts of machine learning and its application to social research, and forecast what future political campaigns will look like. Some history of campaigning using voter data will also be discussed.

Bio 
Richard is a second-year PhD candidate in applied mathematics. He’s working on a few different projects, hoping to eventually find one for his PhD. He got his bachelor’s degree from New York University in physics and mathematics. Born in Beijing, China, Richard immigrated to Canada when he was 10 years old. At 18, his family immigrated again to the United States. As a dual citizen of US and Canada, he often struggles to decide which team to cheer for when the Blue Jays plays against the Red Sox.

Richard is an enthusiast of international relations, social media, and artificial intelligence and its social & political impact. He has lived in nine cities across four countries, and speaks Mandarin as the first language, Russian as the second language, and English as the third language. He also loves Marvel movies, House of Cards, and Orange is the New Blac

Ketian Vivian Zhang 
MIT Department of Political Science
# Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkey - Explaining Chinese Coercion in the South China Sea

Bio
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I am also an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. I recently defended my dissertation and will graduate in August 2018. In the 2017-2018 academic year, I am a Predoctoral Research Fellow in the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Beginning Fall 2018, I will be a Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. I study coercion, economic sanctions, and maritime territorial disputes in international relations and nationalism in comparative politics, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. My dissertation project examines when, why, and how China uses coercion when faced with issues of national security, such as territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas, foreign arms sales to Taiwan, and foreign leaders’ reception of the Dalai Lama. I hold a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was previously a research intern at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., where I was a contributor to its website Foreign Policy in Focus.

Abstract:
Since 1990, China has used coercion for maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea, despite adverse implications for its image. China is also curiously selective in the timing, target, and tools of coercion: China rarely employs military coercion, and it does not coerce all countries that pose similar threats. This paper offers a new theory of when, why, and how China coerces other states—and tests it against Chinese behavior in the South China Sea. I leverage a wealth of newly available primary documents and hundreds of hours of interviews with Chinese officials to trace the decision-making processes behind China's use and nonuse of coercion. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I find that China is a cautious bully that does not coerce frequently and tends to use military coercion less when it becomes stronger, relying instead on non-military tools. I also find that concerns with reputation for resolve and economic vulnerability are critical elements of Chinese decision-making regarding the costs and benefits of coercing its neighbors. China often coerces one target to deter others - "killing the chicken to scare the monkey." These findings have important implications for how we understand states' coercive strategies and the future of Chinese behavior in the region and beyond.

Goals of the SP General Audience Graduate Seminar Series:

Help students communicate STEM, Design, Entrepreneurship, and Arts Teaching and Research

• Give graduate students an opportunity to practice public speaking in a low-pressure environment of peers. 
• Help graduate students think about presenting their work to experts, non-expert, and UROPs. 
• Create a bridge to close the gap between graduate and undergraduate research community. 

Inspire Collaboration & Foster Inclusive Environment 

• Embrace diversity and creates an inclusive and supportive scientific environment 
• Help inspire interdisciplinary collaborations, as students learn about problems in other fields that could be attacked using their own expertise. 
• Help potential UROPs to connect with graduate students and mentors. 

Help students learn, grow, and Network

• Increase students' comfort levels with unfamiliar research topics and provide them exposure to fields and opportunities outside of their primary area of research. 
• Provide a networking platform to students and bring them together to talk about the work that they love and learn a bit more about what their fellow graduate students in different departments do in their everyday life. 

Join us for the seminar and dinner at MIT's Sidney Pacific graduate residence! 

Contact: Neil Gaikwad, gaikwad@mit.edu for more information