Past Events

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series: From Photons to Carbon: Solar-Induced Fluorescence as a Tool for Global Carbon Cycle Science

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series with Professor Christian Frankenberg from Caltech University. This seminar is in person at 15 Vassar Street, 48-316.

Add to Calendar

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series: New insights into atmosphere-wind energy interactions via virtual lidar and multiscale modeling

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series with Professor Julie Kay Lundquist, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Wind Energy at Johns Hopkins University. This seminar is in person at 15 Vassar Street, 48-316.

Add to Calendar

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Legacy Lecture: Half a century of biogeochemistry: Teaching, research, and history at the Parsons Lab

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Legacy Lecture with Professor Harry Hemond. This lecture will draw brief sketches of research campaigns, teaching activities, anecdotes, and Parsons Lab history over the past 50 years. Themes include: the central role of hydrology in understanding ecosystems; research contributions enabled by novel applications and combinations of off-the-shelf technologies; the value of interdisciplinary thinking; and the role of hands-on activity in the learning process, as reflected in the MIT motto, Mens et Manus. This lecture is in-person in Room 48-316.

Add to Calendar

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series: Ecological networks, island biogeography, and the emerging seed dispersal crisis

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series with Professor Rúben Heleno from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. This seminar is in person at 15 Vassar Street, 48-316.

Master’s Thesis Writing Workshop

Led by Jared Berezin, Comm Lab Manager, this workshop will present approaches for writing and organizing each section of your master's thesis. Attendees will also analyze examples from prior theses, and participate in activities to begin constructing a first draft. This event is in-person in 1-236.

Demystifying the CEE General Exam Part 2

Led by Comm Fellow and PhD candidate Michelle Zhang, this Comm Lab workshop will provide information and guidance on the entire General Exam Part 2 process. This event is in-person in 48-216A.

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series: A multi-sensor data assimilation approach to terrestrial carbon cycle monitoring, inventories, markets and projections

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series with Professor Michael Dietze from Boston University. This seminar is in person at 15 Vassar Street, 48-316. Abstract: Improving our ability to understand and predict the dynamics of the terrestrial carbon cycle remains a pressing challenge despite a rapidly growing volume and diversity of Earth Observation data. State data assimilation represents a path forward via an iterative cycle of making process-based forecasts and then statistically reconciling these forecasts against numerous ground-based and remotely-sensed data constraints into a “reanalysis” data product that provides full spatiotemporal carbon budgets with robust uncertainty accounting. Here we report on an >100x expansion of the PEcAn+SIPNET reanalysis from 500 sites CONUS, 25 ensemble members, and 2 data constraints to a ~1km product across North America with 100 ensemble members and 9 data constraints: GEDI and Landtrendr AGB, MODIS LAI, SoilGrids Soil C, SMAP soil moisture, USFS Forest Inventory biomass, biomass increment, and FLUXNET NEE and LE. Synergistically, we use similar ML models both emulate the data assimilation system and to analyze and bias-correct downscaled C and water fluxes. This product preserves spatial, temporal, and across-variable covariances, and we demonstrate the impacts of these covariances on uncertainty accounting in GHG inventories, Scope 3 reporting, and the voluntary C markets. In addition, we review a wide range of ongoing validation activities, comparing the outputs of the reanalysis against withheld data from: ICESat2 lidar; USFS BigMap biomass; NEON soil C, soil respiration, and fine roots; and the ILAMB benchmark suite. Finally, if time permits, we touch on emulator-based recalibration efforts, the Ecological Forecasting Initiative (EFI), and EFI’s NEON forecasting challenge.

C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series: Gabriel Katul

Join us for the C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series featuring Professor Gabriel Katul, who will present “Revisiting Peak Water, Peak Grain, and Analogies to Peak Oil Using Boom–Bust Dynamics in Groundwater-Sourced Grain Production for the U.S. High Plains.” The seminar is in-person in Room 1-190.

Science Saturday at the Boston Public Library

Explore science with the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering! We'll tackle different science questions each month with hands-on learning and demonstrations. Each month, we'll introduce a new topic, talk about your questions, and play some games to explore more! Ages 6-8.

Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series: TBD

Please join us for the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory Seminar Series. This seminar is in person at 15 Vassar Street, 48-316.