Events from the AJ Clark School of Engineering http://eng.umd.edu/events/ Thu, 03 Feb 2022 10:11:38 EST http://eng.umd.edu/images/clark_logo_4email.gif http://eng.umd.edu/events/ Tuesday, March 15, 2022 7:00 AM, , Decolonial and Radical Planetary Futures: Defatalizing Colonial Literacy and Imagination Virtual Event: Register at: tinyurl.com/bahai-agathangelou   Abstract: COVID-19 has brought to the fore once more that violence, direct and structural, disproportionately affects Black, indigenous, and other marginalized peoples. Discourses, deliberations, and policy documents that speak about “crisis” and “disasters” have proliferated in the last two decades. Ranging from neoliberals to the most conservative thinkers we seem to be reaching a consensus that the world is reaching its end.  Many are rushing to design new “Leviathan contracts” that expand coloniality and imperial projects to other planets. In this presentation, I examine the entwinement of time, coloniality, enslavement and global racial capital. Inspired by radical decolonial visions and experiments and from the vantage point of black, indigenous, and anti-capitalist feminists I argue that it is key to grapple with contemporary fatalisms that come in the form of critical environmentalisms, reproductive fascisms and innovative technoscientific capitalism. Crucial to this conversation are the dominant ways that time, coloniality, and value are sutured together to co-constitute fatal notions, imaginations, and projects about species and the planetary. I conclude with some experimental orientations.  In conversation with several radical and decolonial experiments, I point to literacies and imaginations which focus on the possibilities for thriving and multispecies relationalities and planetary futures beyond global racial capitalism.   Professor Anna M Agathangelou, Professor of Politics, York University     Speaker Bio:   Anna M. Agathangelou is a Professor at York University in the Department of Politics.  She was a fellow in the Program of Science, Technology & Society at the School of Government, Harvard (2014-2015) where she developed her project “Found in Translation: Cosmopolitics, the Value of Biotech, and Racial Capitalism.”  Her most recent work includes a special issue in Globalizations with Kyle D. Killian (2021) titled “It’s About Time: Climate Change, Global Capital and Radical Existence.” She is the co-editor (with Kyle D. Killian) of Time, Temporality and Violence in International Relations (De) Fatalizing the Present, Forging Radical Alternatives, Routledge, co-author with L.H.M. Ling, 2009 of Transforming World Politics: From Empire to Multiple Worlds, Routledge, and author of the Global Political Economy of Sex: Desire, Violence, and Insecurity in Mediterranean Nation-States, 2004. Palgrave/MacMillan.   Co-sponsored by The Baha'i Chair for World Peace Anti-Black Racism Initiative Critical Race Initiative Department of African American Studies   http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17035 http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17035 Tuesday, March 29, 2022 7:00 PM, , Antisemitism in the world and why it's often difficult to address its specificity Virtual Event: Register at https://umd.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jT-HHEFBRqa21d5CDZwTdw Abstract: Antisemitism has been on the rise again. Antisemitic worldviews have been developed over thousands of years. They have been reformulated again and again. Today, antisemitism can be related to religious, nationalistic, or political views. It can even be formulated in the language of human rights. This makes it often difficult to address, because some forms of antisemitism are very close to home. In this presentation, Professor Jikeli will go over recent trends and statistics of antisemitic incidents and discuss some of the main ideological sources.   Prof. Gunther Jikeli, Erna B. Rosenfeld Professor, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism/ Borns Jewish Studies Program Associate Professor, Germanic Studies   Speaker Bio:   Günther Jikeli came to the U.S. in 2015 and now holds the Erna B. Rosenfeld Professorship at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism in the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. He is an associate professor at Germanic Studies and Jewish Studies. He has established a lab of graduate and undergraduate students on “social media & hate,” focusing on antisemitism on Twitter and some other social media platforms. https://isca.indiana.edu/about/faculty/jikeli-gunther.html   Co-sponsored by: The Baha'i Chair for World Peace Anti-Black Racism Initiative Critical Race Initiative       http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17036 http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17036 Tuesday, February 08, 2022 7:00 PM, , Simply Because People Refuse to See: Black Lives Matter in Historical Context Virtual Event: Register at: tinyurl.com/bahai-drwilliams Abstract: In this presentation, Dr. Yohuru Williams explores the history of the struggle for racial equality in the United States from the Civil Rights era through the contemporary Black Lives Matter Movement with an exploration of key episodes and moments in U.S. History. Dr Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. Speaker Bio: Dr. Yohuru Williams is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and Founding Director of  the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. He received his Ph.D. from Howard University  in 1998. Dr. Williams is the author of: Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New  Haven (Blackwell, 2006), Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (Routledge, 2015), Teaching beyond the Textbook: Six Investigative Strategies (Corwin Press, 2008) He is also the editor of several books, and has served as an advisor on the popular civil rights reader Putting the Movement Back into teaching Civil Rights.    Co-sponsored by: The Baha'i Chair for World Peace Anti-Black Racism Initiative Critical Race Initiative Department of African American Studies   http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17034 http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17034 Thursday, February 17, 2022 3:00 PM, Hybrid Format: Registration Required, Register Early for Discounted Tickets   The 2022 Legislative Reception will be held in a hybrid format to allow for in-person networking and remote attendees to learn about the climate and energy priorities under consideration for policy and regulation under consideration by the Maryland General Assembly.     Hear from guest legislators and engage with our featured panels: Energy & the Built Environment: Strategies Aimed at Addressing Climate Change This panel session will examine the challenges, opportunities and recommendations related to building de-carbonization to achieve demand reduction goals from the perspective of consumers, industry and utilities. What are the policies and strategies Maryland has on target to achieve beneficial outcomes? Innovation & Regulation: Shooting Toward Energy Targets in Maryland The panel will explore cutting edge technologies and the potential for adoption of zero emission credits to enable the State to achieve Renewable Portfolio (RPS) and energy efficiency goals, faster and more effectively. http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=16944 http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=16944 Friday, February 18, 2022 7:00 PM, Hybrid event: 1101 Clark Hall (Forum) and Zoom presentation, Advance registration is required at https://go.umd.edu/roboticsrsvp Zoom link will be made available to registrants. Questions? Contact Tamika Hodnett or robotics@umd.edu. http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17058 http://www.research.umd.edu/events/index.php?mode=4&id=17058