Program: 6:45pm-7:00pm: Socializing/networking. 7:00-7:25: Ian Winters (Multimedia Artist) on "Responsive installations based on attention, social memory and the use of motion-capture analysis" Projects that explores the observation & choreography of the viewer's or participant's attention & physical movement with a widespread use and integration of sensor-based systems... Read more 7:25-7:50: Christina Smolke (Stanford) on "Synthetic biology: The next generation of biotechnology" Synthetic biology is an emerging field that seeks to transform our ability to manipulate and interface with living systems... Read more 7:50-8:10: BREAK. Before or after the break, anyone in the audience currently working within the intersections of art and science will have 30 seconds to share their work. Please present your work as a teaser so that those who are interested can seek you out during social time following the event. 8:10-8:35: Mark Jacobson (Stanford) on "A Plan to Power the World For All Purposes With Wind, Water, and the Sun" Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. Read more 9:00pm-9:30pm: Discussions, networking You can mingle with the speakers and the audience Bios: Mark Jacobson is Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment and Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering with distinction, an A.B. in Economics with distinction, and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, in 1988. He has been on the faculty at Stanford since 1994. His work relates to the development and application of numerical models to understand better the effects of energy systems and vehicles on climate and air pollution and the analysis of renewable energy resources. He has published two textbooks of two editions each and over 120 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. He received the 2005 American Meteorological Society Henry G. Houghton Award for "significant contributions to modeling aerosol chemistry and to understanding the role of soot and other carbon particles on climate." He co-authored a 2009 cover article in Scientific American with Dr. Mark DeLucchi of U.C. Davis on how to power the world with renewable energy. He is also on the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Advisory Committee to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. Piero Scaruffi is a cognitive scientist who has lectured in three continents and published several books on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, the latest one being "The Nature of Consciousness" (2006). He pioneered Internet applications in the early 1980s and the use of the World-Wide Web for cultural purposes in the mid 1990s. His poetry has been awarded several national prizes in Italy and the USA. His latest book of poems and meditations is "Synthesis" (2009). As a music historian, he has published ten books, the latest ones being "A History of Rock and Dance Music" (2009) and "A History of Jazz Music" (2007). His latest book of history is "A History of Silicon Valley" (2011). He has also written extensively about cinema, literature and the visual arts. Christina Smolke is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Bioengineering. Christina's research program focuses on developing modular genetic platforms for programming information processing and control functions in living systems. She has pioneered the design and application of RNA molecules that process and transmit user-specified input signals to targeted protein outputs, thereby linking molecular computation to gene expression. These technologies are leading to transformative advances in how we interact with and program biology, providing access to otherwise inaccessible information on cellular state, and allowing sophisticated exogenous and embedded control over cellular functions. Her laboratory is applying these technologies to addressing key challenges in cellular therapeutics, targeted molecular therapies, and green biosynthesis strategies. Her research has been recognized with a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, World Technology Network Award in Biotechnology, and TR35 Award. Ian Winters is an SF video/media artist working at the intersections of performance, architectural form, and technology and time-based media to explore the complex relations between physicality, technology, and place, often in collaborations with composers and choreographers to create both staged and open-ended media environments through performance, visual and acoustic media. Winters trained in photography, video/film and performance at SMFA-Boston and Tufts University, and post-graduate training in architecture.Full bio at www.ianwinters.com/bio.html. Address and directions: University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street SF, CA 94117 Room: Fromm (FR) building, Maraschi room See the campus map and directions

Photos, videos and slides

Much of Ian Winters' recent work has explored in some fashion the observation & choreography of the viewer's or participant's attention & physical movement. The widespread use and integration of sensor-based systems permeates many facets of our physical and social/cultural lives. Leaving aside political questions for the moment, this now ubiquitous `fabric' offers many opportunities to us as artists to explore interaction(s) between disparate parties (such as data sources, performers (corporate and corporeal), biotics, and so on) in a much more complex fashion than ever possible before-and yet no number of sensors, data points, or interaction can replace the now rare quality of attention. Using recent projects such as the Memory Table (a durational interactive installation) and current studio research into the use of 3-d cameras / motion recognition systems (such as the Kinect) as examples Winters discusses how these systems can be used to create complex, responsive patterns in installation and performance and expand compositional possi

Synthetic biology is an emerging field of interdisciplinary research that seeks to transform our ability to probe, manipulate, and interface with living systems by combining the knowledge and techniques of biology, chemistry, computer science, and engineering. Advances in synthetic biology are transforming our ability to design, build, and characterize biological systems, thereby advancing biological frontiers by expanding biomanufacturing capabilities, developing next-generation therapeutic approaches, and providing new insights into natural biological systems. While progress has been made in the design of genetic circuits encoding computational operations, communication channels, and dynamic behaviors, capabilities for constructing large-scale genetic systems currently surpass our ability to design such systems. This growing `design gap' has highlighted the need to develop methods that support the generation of new functional biological components and scalable design strategies for complex genetic circuits that will lay the foundation for integrated biological devices and systems. I will discuss research in the field that is directed toward bridging this design gap and advancing our capabilities to design sophisticated biological systems.

As the capacities of synthetic biology develop, the potential for a range of risks and dangers grows. How should we think about the ratios of capacities and dangers? More broadly how should we think about design when it comes to living beings?

A Plan to Power the World For All Purposes With Wind, Water, and the Sun. Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the most significant problems facing the world today. This talk discusses a plan to solve the problems by powering 100% of the world's energy for all purposes, including electricity, transportation, industry, and heating/cooling, with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) within 20-40 years. It reviews and ranks major proposed energy technologies to these problems then evaluates a scenario for powering the world with the best technologies, considering resources, materials, reliability, costs, and policies. Relevant papers are at http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/susenergy2030.html.