BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:The MIT SP Graduate Student Dinner Seminar Series X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260811T085815Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_3639637 DTSTART:20180529T220000Z DTEND:20180529T230000Z DESCRIPTION:The MIT SP Graduate Student Dinner Seminar Series provides the institute wide platform for students to communicate their research and pas sion to a large audience outside of their own field\, in low-pressure\, di verse\, inclusive\, and collaborative environment. \n\nDinner Served\n\nSp onsors: Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE)\n\nSpeakers\n\nRi chard Riccardo Zhang\nMIT Department of Mathematics \n# Beyond Cambridge Analytica: the Future AI-Driven Political Campaigning\n\nAbstract\nCambrid ge Analytica just filed for bankruptcy. The infamous political data consul ting firm had caused a public outcry when a NYTimes article in March revea led the firm’s unconscionable collection of over 50 million Facebook use r data to for the Trump campaign in 2016. Both tech firms and lawmakers qu ickly condemned CA and vowed for greater Internet privacy and data securit y. 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 c ampaigning. We will start with a brief review of the Cambridge Analytica s candal\, learn about the state-of-the arts of machine learning and its app lication to social research\, and forecast what future political campaigns will look like. Some history of campaigning using voter data will also be discussed.\n\nBio \nRichard is a second-year PhD candidate in applied mat hematics. He’s working on a few different projects\, hoping to eventuall y find one for his PhD. He got his bachelor’s degree from New York Unive rsity in physics and mathematics. Born in Beijing\, China\, Richard immigr ated to Canada when he was 10 years old. At 18\, his family immigrated aga in to the United States. As a dual citizen of US and Canada\, he often str uggles to decide which team to cheer for when the Blue Jays plays against the Red Sox.\n\nRichard is an enthusiast of international relations\, soci al 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\n\nKetian Vivian Zhang \nMIT Department of Political Scien ce\n# Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkey - Explaining Chinese Coercio n in the South China Sea\n\nBio\nI am a Ph.D. candidate in the Political S cience department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\, where I a m also an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. I recently defended m y dissertation and will graduate in August 2018. In the 2017-2018 academic year\, I am a Predoctoral Research Fellow in the International Security P rogram at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the H arvard Kennedy School. Beginning Fall 2018\, I will be a Shorenstein Postd octoral Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. I study coercion\, economic sanctions\, and maritime territor ial disputes in international relations and nationalism in comparative pol itics\, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. My dissertation proj ect examines when\, why\, and how China uses coercion when faced with issu es of national security\, such as territorial disputes in the South and Ea st China Seas\, foreign arms sales to Taiwan\, and foreign leaders’ rece ption 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 int ern at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington\, D.C.\, where I was a contributor to its website Foreign Policy in Focus.\n\n\nAbstract:\nSin ce 1990\, China has used coercion for maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea\, despite adverse implications for its image. China is al so curiously selective in the timing\, target\, and tools of coercion: Chi na 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 behavio r in the South China Sea. I leverage a wealth of newly available primary d ocuments and hundreds of hours of interviews with Chinese officials to tra ce 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 wh en it becomes stronger\, relying instead on non-military tools. I also fin d that concerns with reputation for resolve and economic vulnerability are critical elements of Chinese decision-making regarding the costs and bene fits of coercing its neighbors. China often coerces one target to deter ot hers - "killing the chicken to scare the monkey." These findings have impo rtant implications for how we understand states' coercive strategies and t he future of Chinese behavior in the region and beyond.\n\nGoals of the SP General Audience Graduate Seminar Series:\n\nHelp students communicate ST EM\, Design\, Entrepreneurship\, and Arts Teaching and Research\n\nGive gr aduate students an opportunity to practice public speaking in a low-pressu re environment of peers. Help graduate students think about presenting the ir work to experts\, non-expert\, and UROPs. Create a bridge to close the gap between graduate and undergraduate research community. Inspire Collabo ration & Foster Inclusive Environment \n\nEmbrace diversity and creates an inclusive and supportive scientific environment Help inspire interdiscipl inary collaborations\, as students learn about problems in other fields th at could be attacked using their own expertise. Help potential UROPs to co nnect with graduate students and mentors. Help students learn\, grow\, and Network\n\nIncrease students' comfort levels with unfamiliar research top ics and provide them exposure to fields and opportunities outside of their primary area of research. Provide a networking platform to students and b ring them together to talk about the work that they love and learn a bit m ore 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! \n\nContact: Neil Gaikwad\, gaikwad@mit.edu f or more information GEO:42.3598;-71.101962 LOCATION:Building NW86\, MP Room\, Sidney Pacific SUMMARY:The MIT SP Graduate Student Dinner Seminar Series URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.mit.edu/event/the_mit_sp_graduate_student_di nner_seminar_series_630 CATEGORIES:Conferences/Seminars/Lectures CATEGORIES:Meetings/Gatherings CATEGORIES:Career Development END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR