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A full-day Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration featuring ceremonial opening with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe at dawn, community brunch and resource fair, afternoon symposium on regional Indigenous history and sovereignty, and keynote on environmental advocacy and Indigenous climate action. Hosted by Santa Clara University on October 12, 2026.

A full-day hands-on workshop building with open-weight AI models and open-source infrastructure. Participants will deploy AI agents on DigitalOcean, route across models using DigitalOcean's model router, and fine-tune or serve open models for their own use cases. The workshop features live demos followed by guided building sessions with MLH mentors and technical experts from DigitalOcean, Hugging Face, Nous Research, and OpenHands. Designed for founders, engineers, and researchers already shipping with AI who want to own their AI stack. Part of the broader Open Intelligence Summit conference series.

The International Chemical Biology Society's 15th Annual Conference convenes leading researchers from academia, industry, nonprofits, and government to discuss groundbreaking work at the intersection of chemistry and biology. The event features talks, panels, and networking focused on innovations advancing human health and biomedical research.

A half-day convening designed to map the Bay Area's fragmented health ecosystem and build connective tissue across stakeholders. Organizers are facilitating structured networking among hospitals, clinics, biotech firms, VCs, policy experts, and patient advocates across seven health sub-domains—therapeutics, diagnostics, digital health & AI, genomics, mental health, public health, and care delivery. The morning includes an intro talk on the alliance's vision and stakeholder map, followed by facilitated networking sessions by domain. Organized by Value Economy Network with founders and investors including Amir Gur, David Kiewlich, and Varun Turlapati. Continues into the afternoon Angel Launch Silicon Valley HealthTech Summit (12–5 PM).

A full-day hands-on workshop exploring AI agent infrastructure and inference control. Participants will learn Akamai Cloud's AI compute and GPU capabilities in a morning technical session, then spend a two-plus-hour afternoon build sprint creating working prototypes of AI agents with pre-provisioned sandbox access. Akamai Cloud engineers will be available throughout to support development. The day closes with live demos and project recognition. Bring a laptop and an AI-agent idea (or just curiosity).

The Poetry Circle, a local poetry book club at Orinda Books, reads and discusses Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha, a collection of poems about life in Gaza by the acclaimed Palestinian poet and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Photon-counting detectors measure individual X-ray interactions, enabling fine spatial sampling and energy-resolved imaging. Jin Zhang, Chief Engineer at iRay Group, explores how semiconductor signal formation and readout electronics translate to imaging benefits and practical limitations in medical and industrial applications. Topics include charge sharing, pulse pileup, calibration drift, material decomposition, and clinical PCCT systems from major manufacturers (Siemens, GE, Canon, Varex, CERN, DECTRIS, iRay). Zhang draws on 20+ years leading R&D teams across medical imaging, semiconductor detectors, and AI-enabled sensing, with expertise spanning photon-counting detectors, image processing, and commercial product development. The seminar concludes with research priorities in sensor manufacturing, high-rate electronics, and quantitative validation.

A community gathering on Indigenous Peoples' Day at UC Santa Cruz honoring Indigenous peoples and communities through remembrance, acknowledgment of the present, and creative visioning of futures. Participants will engage in hands-on collage-making centered on reflection, connection, and Indigenous visibility, alongside food and meaningful conversation. Hosted by UC Santa Cruz at Cardiff House.

A Cantor Arts Center exhibition showcasing recent acquisitions from the Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI), founded in 2018 by Stanford art history professor Marci Kwon and curator Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander. The AAAI has grown from roughly 30 works to over 800, making it one of the nation's leading museum initiatives dedicated to Asian American art. This exhibition presents works by artists including Pacita Abad, Ching Ho Cheng, Tseng Kwong Chi, Young Joon Kwak, Masami Teraoka, and Rupy C. Tut, spanning generations, media, and artistic approaches. Many works are being presented to the public for the first time. The exhibition runs during regular museum hours; admission is always free.

A symposium exploring how Indigenous resurgence informs teaching, learning, and community-based scholarship through Indigenous knowledge, land-based pedagogies, and relational research. Speakers include Tania Aguila-Way (University of Toronto), Robert Yelkatte Clifford (University of British Columbia), Pablo Gonzalez (UC Berkeley), Meghan Robinson (UBC Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism project), and Kierstin Williams (The Narwhal). Held at UC Berkeley's Native Community Center.

A hands-on workshop for non-technical founders exploring AI-assisted startup building. Toby Morning, founder and CEO of AINative Studio, will demonstrate AINative Builder, a platform that turns a one-line idea into a working prototype and business plan. Participants will explore two tracks—App Track (builds a shareable product) and Company Track (drafts strategy and operating plan)—leaving with a live preview of their startup concept. Bring a fully charged laptop and your idea in one sentence; no coding experience or technical background required. Includes Q&A and lunch.

A lecture on Selina Makana's historical study of women's roles in twentieth-century Angolan nationalism and independence movements. Makana examines how women shaped the nation beyond combat and military struggle, tracing gender dynamics across colonial rule, anti-colonial resistance, and nation-building. The book challenges dominant narratives that center male combatants, centering women's political, social, and cultural work in Angolan history. Free and open to the public.

Neil Thompson (MIT) presents new research on AI's impact on knowledge work and cognitive expertise. The study examines which tasks AI will automate and how that reshapes skills, entry barriers, and wages across occupations through 2030, finding that task duration strongly predicts AI capability. Thompson will also share findings from MIT FutureTech's Crashing Waves vs. Rising Tides study, which analyzed 60,000+ worker evaluations showing AI capabilities rising steadily and broadly rather than in sudden jumps.

Through work in conflict-affected regions, natural disaster response, and relief following major crises like the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Kensuke Onishi has learned the critical importance of building resilient social systems and infrastructure before catastrophe strikes. He explores what the private sector and civil society can accomplish when governments and public institutions fail, and what roles they must play in crisis. Onishi founded Peace Winds Japan in 1996 and has led humanitarian operations in 41 countries; he also established Japan Platform and the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management.

How can public systems better support children and families at moments of greatest opportunity? This session examines sensitive periods and developmental transitions when well-timed interventions can shift life trajectories. Topics include two-generation approaches, home-visiting, economic and health supports, and purpose development aligned with key developmental moments. Speakers include Adrián Pedroza (National Executive Director, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors), Sarah Enos Watamura (Professor of Psychology, University of Denver; Principal Investigator, Child Health and Development Lab), moderated by Ron Dahl (Professor, UC Berkeley Public Health), with facilitation by Katie Albright (Executive Director, UC Berkeley Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood).

A recurring member-led book group meeting on the second Monday of each month to discuss mystery fiction. Hosted by the Mechanics' Institute Library.

A 4-hour hands-on hackathon where participants build a working Company Brain—an AI-powered knowledge system that connects documentation, meeting notes, FAQs, policies, and internal tools to make organizational knowledge available to employees and AI agents. Led by Dave Nielsen, Head of DevRel at Cognee AI and Head of Events at AI Alliance. Designed for developers, engineers, startup founders, and anyone exploring agent-based systems and practical AI development. Includes networking and light refreshments.

Yuzhang Li, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA, discusses two complementary approaches for understanding hidden battery processes. Cryogenic electron microscopy enables direct visualization of battery interfaces and degradation at the nanoscale, while machine-learning-based virtual sensing infers internal electrode states from external measurements, creating a 'virtual reference electrode' that improves state estimation, detects lithium plating, and enables smarter charging. Together, these approaches advance battery monitoring and control.

A moderated panel on regulating the datafied workplace, featuring Samantha Gordon (Chief Advocacy Officer, TechEquity Collaborative), Mishal Khan (Senior Researcher, UC Berkeley Labor Center), and Aiha Nguyen (Program Director, Data & Society Research Institute), moderated by UC Law SF Professor Seema N. Patel. Part of the Future of Workplace Regulation Colloquium series on technology and employment law. Held in the Deb Colloquium Room.

Investigation of mesoscale liquid dynamics using sub-meV resolution inelastic X-ray scattering. Alfred Q.R. Baron, Materials Dynamics Group Director at RIKEN SPring-8 Center, presents research on advanced spectroscopic techniques for probing the structure and dynamics of liquids at fine energy resolution.

A. Bradley Potter, Senior Analyst at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Center for Global Security Research and Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins SAIS, discusses his career at the U.S. Department of State. Potter previously served in the State Department's Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs, Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and Policy Planning Staff, and also held positions at the Department of Defense and RAND Corporation. He specializes in wartime decision-making, war termination, nuclear strategy, and U.S. foreign policy.

A screening of the documentary "From Soweto to Berkeley," which commemorates the 1985 UC Berkeley student-led divestment campaign that forced the UC Regents to divest $3.1 billion from Apartheid South Africa—the largest campus protests since the Vietnam War. The struggle also led to the creation of the American Cultures graduation requirement. This screening precedes the October 23rd symposium "Divestment Now! Student Activism and the Anti-Apartheid Movement at UC Berkeley" at Morrison Library.

Peter Berkowitz discusses his collection of 40 columns on the decline and reclamation of liberal education in America. Drawing from essays written for RealClearPolitics (2014–2025), Berkowitz examines higher education's mission, contemporary campus dysfunctions including censorship and politicization of curricula, and the surge of antisemitism following October 2023. He explores the Trump administration's clashes with major universities over free speech, DEI programs, and intellectual diversity, and proposes reforms to return colleges to equipping students for thoughtful citizenship and freedom.

Where Will the Higgs Boson Take Us? The Higgs boson is a fascinating particle that is connected to many of the outstanding mysteries of the universe. The Large Hadron Collider has now produced more than 50 million Higgs bosons, allowing us to study it in unprecedented detail and to use it as a tool to search for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this talk, I will discuss some of the latest progress in Higgs physics, including novel measurements that exploit fundamental principles of quantum mechanics to test the Higgs boson’s interactions and search for signs of new physics. I will also discuss how new technologies are extending our reach in Higgs physics and shaping what may become possible in the future. Speaker Bio: Haichen Wang is an experimental particle physicist. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where, as a graduate student on the ATLAS experiment at CERN, he contributed to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Since then, his research has focused on exploring fundamental physics at the Large Hadron Collider, developing new detector instrumentation, and applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to particle physics. He joined the UC Berkeley Physics Department in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024. He is also a Faculty Scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Speakers: Haichen Wang, Associate Professor (UC Berkeley Department of Physics)

A Stanford Energy Seminar featuring Nick Franchot, Partner at GoodFinch. The seminar brings diverse perspectives on energy—from academics and entrepreneurs to utilities and nonprofits—to Stanford's community. Attendees can join in person at Shriram Center, via livestream, or as a 1-unit class (CEE 301/ENERGY 301/MS&E 494). Part of the Precourt Institute for Energy's nearly 20-year flagship program.

Renowned psychotherapist and astrologer Debra Silverman discusses her book *I Don't Believe in Astrology*, an accessible guide combining wisdom from psychology and astrology to help readers understand the life-changing benefits of astrological insight. Silverman integrates her expertise in both psychotherapy and astrology to explore how understanding your chart can deepen self-awareness and personal growth.

A lecture and book talk with Dr. Gordon Walker, mycologist, science communicator, and author of *Dr. Fun Guy's Passport to Kingdom Fungi*. Dr. Walker, who holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis and has 3 million followers across social media, explores fungal biology, foraging practices, mushroom identification, and the ecological importance of fungi. The book combines comprehensive Q&A sections on fungal science with illustrated mushroom profiles, culinary techniques, and toxicology guidance for foragers and enthusiasts.

A lecture on burnout, chronic stress, and fatigue in contemporary life, exploring why rest remains elusive despite cultural pressure to slow down and how burnout manifests differently across communities. Tiana Brawley, a psychotherapist, licensed clinical social worker, and founder of SoulFree Wellness, discusses the psychological and structural roots of exhaustion and pathways toward sustainable living. The event includes a Q&A and informal mingling.

A history of curare, the Amazonian Indigenous poison that became a cornerstone of modern medicine. In the 1930s–40s, plant hunters raced through the Amazon to unlock curare's secrets, hoping to unlock cures for disease. The poison they brought north transformed anesthesia and surgery globally, earned a Swiss scientist a Nobel Prize, and became routinely used in psychiatric shock therapy. Matt O'Hara, professor of history at UC Santa Cruz and author of four books on Latin American history, draws on archival documents, oral histories, and interviews to explore this epic quest—and to ask who profits from medical progress and who pays the price. Based on his forthcoming book, for which he received a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award.

Clinical social worker Tobias Rosenberg traces the complex history of psychiatric asylums and their implications for modern mental health care. Drawing on his experience at UCSF across inpatient psychiatry, crisis services, residential treatment, and outpatient care, Rosenberg examines how asylums emerged and evolved, the social and political forces behind institutional care, the deinstitutionalization movement, and lessons for contemporary practice. The talk connects historical failures and harms to present-day efforts toward more ethical, compassionate, and evidence-informed mental health environments. Hosted at Nob Hill, a bar venue.

Trace the folkloric origins and literary evolution of vampires from European folklore through Victorian literature to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Sara Hackenberg, professor of English at San Francisco State University and scholar of Victorian literature, explores the vampire archetypes in Coleridge's "Christabel," Le Fanu's "Carmilla," Polidori's "The Vampyre," and penny dreadfuls like "Varney, The Vampire," revealing how Stoker synthesized these predecessors into Count Dracula, the most famous literary vampire of all.

A celebration of jazz history and live music featuring stories about iconic musicians like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. The event combines live performances with discussion of jazz's cultural significance.

A conversation with writer and visual artist August Lamm about her new book *You Don't Need a Smartphone*, a manifesto-memoir-guidebook arguing that we can still choose to live without smartphones—and may soon lose that right. Unlike self-help books offering wellness hacks for screen addiction, Lamm's work demonstrates how to live without the device entirely. Lamm will be in conversation with Clio's co-founder Timothy Don about reclaiming life from the tyranny of screens.

A gathering for people curious about building deeper connections with their neighbors. Participants share what brought them to their street, discuss experiments they've tried in community-building, and leave with one small project to try — a dinner, a street ritual, a shared project, or simple gesture. Inspired by Mitra Martin's research on neighborhoods as designed containers, the lab explores how lasting community emerges through tiny, repeated instances rather than grand plans. If there's interest, the circle recurs between sessions to document what works and build a playbook to share.

Weekly presentations and discussions on formal methods, software verification, AI, and mathematics. Hosted by Radoslav Kirov and Adi Baradwaj. Beginners welcome.

A practical hands-on workshop on terminal setup and coding tasks using Claude, designed for participants with no prior expertise required. Learn by doing with real coding examples and workflows.

TechCrunch's annual startup conference returns to Moscone West for three days, with more than 200 sessions across six stages on AI-native competition, infrastructure bottlenecks, shifting venture dynamics, and enterprise adoption. Announced speakers include Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe; Panos Panay, who runs devices and Alexa at Amazon; Replit co-founder and CEO Amjad Masad; Glean founder and CEO Arvind Jain; and Flock co-founder and CEO Garrett Langley.

AWS Community Day: Building the Future of AI is a full-day conference on generative AI and agentic systems in practice. Sessions cover building applications with Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker, designing autonomous agents responsibly, and technical deep-dives on emerging cloud AI tools. The centerpiece is a live hackathon finals demo featuring the top 8 agentic AI projects built on AWS (teams competed September 29–October 11 with up to $3,200 in AWS credits at stake). Expect expert-led technical sessions, networking with Bay Area builders and industry leaders, and hands-on learning for both experienced architects and cloud newcomers.

Kalyn Josephson discusses her novel *The Grimlor*, described as smart and very funny. Hosted by Rakestraw Books.

An introduction to food and health through Traditional Chinese Medicine with Dr. Anita Huang, a fourth-generation TCM doctor and California-licensed acupuncturist with 25+ years of clinical experience. Dr. Huang will explore how TCM understands foods through their five flavors and thermal properties, and how food choices can be tailored to individual constitution, symptoms, and seasons to support the body's balance and well-being.

Julia Nelsen discusses translating Fausta Cialente's *A Very Cold Winter* (published in English for the first time in 2026) and her once-banned 1930 debut *Natalia*, exploring the rewards and challenges of bringing this pioneering Italian voice to modern readers. Cialente, a Strega Prize-winning author long censored and overlooked, is finally reaching global audiences.

Join San Jose State University's College of Social Sciences and Department of History for a celebration of community-engaged scholarship and the relaunch of the Public History Program. The day features a panel discussion on the importance and challenges of practicing inclusive, critical, community-engaged history with diverse publics.

Helene Wecker discusses her new novel *The Gates of Midnight*, the long-awaited final installment in the award-winning Golem and the Jinni trilogy. Copies of all three novels will be available for purchase. The event includes lunch.

Two experts from Kyiv discuss Ukraine's military position and the political and economic factors shaping the winter ahead. Yevhenii Malik, Head of National Security and Defense Programs at the Kyiv School of Economics and former Marine Infantry sergeant with frontline experience in Mariupol, addresses military strategy and tactical planning. Alexandra Vacroux, Vice President for Strategic Engagement at the Kyiv School of Economics and former Executive Director of Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, contextualizes the geopolitical and economic dimensions. Russia's degradation of Ukrainian energy infrastructure and prospects for 2027 negotiations frame the conversation.

How does the U.S. war on migrants reshape suburban geography? Emma Shaw Crane, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stanford, discusses her ethnographic fieldwork in South Miami-Dade, where migrant agricultural workers live in informal housing without formal addresses—a condition that blocks school enrollment, asylum compliance, and eviction protection. Drawing on her research into detention alternatives and surveillance programs, Crane develops the concept of the "periphery within" to show how dispersed, privatized forms of spatial containment produce labor camps not through confinement but through the proliferation of unregulated housing on the agricultural periphery. Her current book project, *Counterinsurgent Suburb*, investigates the environmental and spatial relationships sustaining U.S. war-making in South Florida.

Does interracial partnership transcend racial boundaries, or do inequalities persist? Sociologist and demographer Maria Carolina Tomás challenges the narrative of Brazil's "racial democracy" by examining interracial unions as sites where racial discrimination, domestic labor inequities, and family tensions reveal how racial boundaries endure. Drawing on national surveys and qualitative interviews, Tomás traces changes in interracial union rates over time, analyzing geography and family background, then explores discrimination within intimate relationships and public interactions. Tomás is a professor in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC Minas) with expertise in social stratification, race, family, and education.

Celebrate National Coming Out Day with the LGBTQIA+ community at UC Berkeley's Lower Sproul. The event features a Drag Brunch with performances, small bites, and community time, welcoming everyone regardless of where they are in their coming-out journey. Hosted by the Queer Alliance Resource Center and GenEq.

A Grand Rounds lecture examining how lifestyle interventions address shared biological mechanisms underlying common chronic diseases. Dean Ornish, professor of medicine at UCSF and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, will discuss evidence from randomized controlled trials showing how lifestyle changes can influence disease development and progression. Ornish's research on intensive cardiac rehabilitation helped establish it as a Medicare-covered benefit; he is a TIME 100 Innovator and bestselling author.

A four-session UCSF seminar series on advances in genome engineering for stem cell biology and therapeutic development. Sessions feature talks on single-cell phenotyping in CRISPR-edited embryos (Dan Wagner, Oct 13), normothermic perfusion platforms for ex vivo human biology (James Gardner, Oct 27), organoid culture fundamentals (Michelle Gbenedio, Nov 10), and experimental techniques for village culture organoids (Alex Pollen, Dec 8). Open to all UCSF participants and the public.

A hands-on workshop exploring how to critically evaluate AI tools before using them. Participants will investigate real AI-enabled libraries and research tools, examining questions of data handling, privacy, transparency, accuracy, and limitations. The session teaches practical criteria for assessing whether specific AI systems align with your values and needs, covering issues like hidden backend systems and data use practices. Attendees will develop a reusable framework for making informed decisions about AI tools they encounter. Hosted by SJSU Library's AI Center for Civic and Social Good.

A behind-the-scenes look at the Ashby BART Housing Project, which will add approximately 600 new homes at the Ashby BART station, with half deed-restricted as affordable units. The event features the development team, representatives from the City of Berkeley, and BART officials discussing the project's design, financing, and community benefits—including bike and bus infrastructure, tree canopy, and a public plaza for community events. Ideal for students, residents, and those interested in transit-oriented housing and urban development.

A celebration of community-engaged scholarship and the relaunch of San Jose State University's Public History Program. Dr. Kate Rogers, a leading scholar in public history, delivers the keynote address 'A Line in the Sand: Public History, Collective Memory, and the Stories We Choose to Tell,' exploring how communities shape and interpret historical narratives. The day brings together historians, students, and community members to discuss the role of public history in shaping collective memory and civic understanding.

A conversation with Gita Wirjawan, Indonesian entrepreneur, former Minister of Trade, and Stanford scholar, on Southeast Asia's evolving role in global affairs. Drawing on his book *What It Takes: Southeast Asia – From Periphery to the Core of Global Consciousness*, Wirjawan will discuss how the region is positioning itself beyond traditional roles as a consumer market or manufacturing base toward become a source of talent, technological innovation, and strategic partnerships. The discussion will explore intersections with Bay Area capabilities in AI, investment, finance, and innovation, with Indonesia as a regional focal point. Co-hosted by the Bay Area Council, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, and the Consulate General of Indonesia.

A hands-on build night focused on developing open-source alternatives to paid creative tools using ComfyUI. Participants will collaborate on projects competing for a $10K grand prize. Hosted at Frontier Tower.

What makes innovation clusters thrive, and how can regions scale their global impact? This seminar examines Tokyo-Yokohama and the Greater Bay Area—two of the world's leading innovation clusters ranked among the top by WIPO's Global Innovation Cluster Index. Dr. Andreas Göthenberg (Executive Director, STINT) shares perspectives from STINT's Science Intelligence work on global science and innovation, followed by presentations from Dr. Laura Barbieri (Science Fellow in Japan and South Korea, STINT; Visiting Scholar, GRIPS) and Dr. Erik Forsberg (Representative in China and ASEAN, STINT; Associate Professor, Zhejiang University) on the ecosystems, strengths, and development trajectories of these regions.

An annual state-of-the-departments address from Kent Irwin, Chair of Stanford's Physics Department, and Ian Fisher of Applied Physics. The colloquium welcomes faculty, students, and community members with updates on departmental initiatives and research directions.

A lecture on the environmental and human consequences of nuclear war, examining the chain of complex physical and biological effects from blast, radiation, smoke, and climate disruption. Brian Toon, atmospheric scientist and leading expert on nuclear winter, will walk through the science of fire-induced smoke production, stratospheric climate response, and agricultural collapse — the mechanisms that could drive fatalities far beyond blast and radiation alone. He will discuss the deep uncertainties in current models, recent recommendations from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for targeted research, and why federal agencies have largely avoided funding this critical area for 40 years. Hosted at Stanford University.

A panel discussion on California's affordability crisis, examining housing costs, electricity prices, and cost-of-living adjustments that push the state's poverty rate among the nation's highest. Panelists Samuel Trachtman (Senior Researcher, Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative), Marc Joffe (California Policy Center), Ben Metcalf (Terner Center for Housing Innovation), and Caroline Danielson (Public Policy Institute of California) discuss policy reforms addressing three core drivers: housing supply restrictions, poorly implemented regulations, and fragmented public services. Based on BESI's white paper series *Making California More Affordable: A Policy Roadmap*.

David Treuer, Ojibwe author and USC professor, discusses his forthcoming book *The Savage Mind: An American Legacy*, arguing that frontier violence—rooted in colonial conquest and the theft of Native and Black freedom—shaped American institutions, imperial policy overseas, and contemporary crises from school shootings to state violence. Treuer, a National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of *The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee*, traces how this foundational violence has reverberated through American culture and politics. Moderated by Peter A. Nelson, Chair of the Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Sina Azodi, Director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, discusses his new book *Iran and the Bomb: The United States, Iran, and the Nuclear Question* (Bloomsbury, 2026). The book traces the evolution of Iran's nuclear strategy from early US support in the 1950s through post-revolution opposition and reconstitution. Azodi is a frequent commentator on international affairs appearing on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and other major outlets, with analysis published in Foreign Policy, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and the Arms Control Association. The discussion is moderated by Minoo Moallem, Director of the Critical Iranian & Persianate Studies Program at UC Berkeley.

How do we embed human values into technology from the start rather than adding them later? This interactive workshop opens the ai-et Speaker Series with Larry Medsker, editor of Springer's AI and Ethics Handbook and co-founder of the journal AI and Ethics. Following a short talk on frameworks for embedding commitments into AI architecture, attendees work in small groups on real cases—Agentic AI and Accountability, and Generative AI in Writing, Journalism, and Schools—bringing humanities, technical, and industry perspectives into direct conversation.

A screening of Gods own Country (2017) with Tommy Milutin, local photographer and film enthusiast. The film follows a lonely young farmer whose isolation and drinking are interrupted by the arrival of a Romanian worker, whose presence challenges him emotionally and offers the possibility of transformation. 104 minutes. In English with closed captions.

Indranil Chakravarty, film historian and author, discusses his biography *The Tree Within: Octavio Paz's Years in India*, which explores how the Mexican poet's time as ambassador to India in the 1960s transformed his poetry, philosophy, and personal life. Drawing on multilingual archives, declassified diplomatic files, letters, and interviews, Chakravarty reconstructs Paz's "second birth" in India—his deep engagement with the country's cultural and contemplative traditions, friendships with leading Indian thinkers, and the love affair that shaped some of his most celebrated work. Moderated by Atreyee Gupta, Associate Professor of Global Modern Art and South and Southeast Asian Art at UC Berkeley.

A panel exploring contemporary threats to archaeological knowledge production and curation—from looting and climate change-driven destruction to regulatory changes, financial pressures, and algorithmic processes in generative AI. Speakers include Morag M. Kersel (DePaul University), an archaeologist specializing in cultural heritage law and the antiquities trade; Eric C. Kansa (Open Context), who works on intellectual property and linked open data in archaeology; and James C. Wright (Bryn Mawr College), director of the University of Toronto Excavations at Kommos. Moderated by Kim Shelton (UC Berkeley). Held at the Archaeological Research Facility.

Engineers from Databricks and OpenAI discuss debugging and scaling agentic AI systems. This technical talk covers observability tools and methodologies for monitoring complex AI agent behavior in production environments.

Meghan O'Gieblyn, author of *Interior States* and *God, Human, Animal, Machine*, discusses her new book *Will and Attention*—a memoir of relapse into alcoholism intertwined with a philosophical investigation of attention and the self's capacity for self-directed change. In conversation with Professor Laura Wittman at Stanford Humanities Center.

A discussion of Susan Straight's novel *Sacrament*, set in San Bernardino during the early COVID pandemic. The book follows two traveling nurses at a Southern California hospital, shifting between their perspectives as one character goes missing. Rather than focusing on lockdown domesticity, Straight centers the frontline experience of essential workers during the crisis.

Local startups demonstrate agentic AI applications and systems. Attendees will see live product demos from Bay Area founders and teams building with AI agents, gaining insight into emerging approaches to autonomous software and practical implementations across different domains.

A screening of Pensoyungkum: People with the Pencil, a documentary by Hopi filmmaker Duwawisioma (Victor Masayesva) honoring the Hopi 19—nineteen Hopi men arrested in 1894 for resisting federal boarding school policy and imprisoned at Alcatraz for ten months. The film examines Indigenous sovereignty, cultural resilience, and the legacy of U.S. assimilation policy. Screening followed by discussion with Hopi elders and youth. 58 minutes, 2023. No closed captions.

A nonpartisan ballot breakdown for the 2026 election with Dan Hu, Director of Partnerships at CalMatters. Hu is on a statewide VotingMatters tour helping voters understand their ballots. The event also includes a conversation on mail-in voting suppression. Food and drinks provided.

Danny O'Dea discusses his debut novel *Packages*, a tender and unsettling work about the stories we tell to survive—and those that haunt us when survival isn't enough. O'Dea announces a bold new literary voice exploring resilience, narrative, and the human need for meaning in the face of hardship.

Pulitzer finalist Carla Power discusses her biography of Amina Wadud, the Islamic scholar and activist whose work on gender justice, theology, and civil rights has shaped Muslim communities globally. Power traces Wadud's arc from a Methodist preacher's daughter in the American South to a leading theologian whose scholarship and activism have transformed how Muslim women and queer people understand their faith. Drawing on archival materials, Power examines Wadud's decades-long impact across four continents while raising five children as a single mother, and her evolving relationship to both Islam and American identity.

A screening of climate science and coastal adaptation with Gary Griggs, Distinguished Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and Mike Beck, Director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience. The speakers will explore natural forces driving El Niño events, how scientists forecast major climate shifts, and what current research suggests about a potential "super El Niño" this year. The discussion will cover findings from California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment and CoSMoS Adapts, a project examining future coastal flood risks and adaptation strategies. Aimed at understanding potential impacts on California's coast and how communities can prepare.

Shoshana Berger, writer, strategist, and cofounder of the Aged Intelligence Society, challenges the optimization imperative in contemporary life design. Drawing on her career spanning journalism, IDEO, and Notion, Berger explores how design thinking has infiltrated every domain of human experience—and asks what we lose when we treat life as a project to be engineered. Moving through themes of storytelling, technology, and mortality, she examines the pressure toward constant self-improvement and considers what it might mean to step back, create space for constraint, and let life unfold more naturally. Part of UC Berkeley's Design Field Notes lecture series.

A grown-up read-aloud of frightening folktales from Latin American traditions, featuring selections appropriate for adults and teens. The event includes engaging discussions and performances celebrating Latinx heritage, cultures, and traditions as part of ¡VIVA! at the Library, San Francisco Public Library's series highlighting the city's rich Latinx community.

Learn how to protect your home from wildfire and get updates on California home insurance. The Southern Marin Fire District and insurance experts will give short presentations followed by a Q&A session with opportunities to ask questions.

A curated program of film scenes exploring how librarians have been portrayed in cinema over the past century. From *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* and *Shadow of a Doubt* to *Desk Set* and *Party Girl*, the presentation traces stereotypical and positive depictions of librarians in feature films. Jim Van Buskirk, a retired San Francisco Public Library librarian, film historian, and co-author of *Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover's Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations*, leads the discussion through humorous and poignant scenes that reveal how Hollywood has imagined library work and librarians across generations.

An in-depth discussion of California state measures on the November ballot, led by SPUR staff and board members drawing on months of research and analysis for the SPUR Voter Guide. SPUR is a nonpartisan urban policy organization whose voter guides are trusted civic resources.

A keynote and conversation on AI's role in the workplace and how organizations can implement it successfully while keeping people at the center of transformation. Dr. Paula Goldman, Chief Ethical & Humane Use Officer at Salesforce, discusses her new book *Manage the Machine: How to Harness Human-AI Collaboration at Work*, drawing on anthropological research and case studies from around the world — from a town council in England that rejected AI tools to a Singapore bank that prepared its workforce ahead of automation. She's joined by Dr. Caroline Simard, Dean of Northeastern University Silicon Valley and researcher on career pathways and organizational change in tech. A reception and book signing follow. All attendees receive a free copy of the book.

Join SPUR for an in-depth discussion of California's state ballot measures ahead of this November's election. SPUR's staff and board have spent months researching and analyzing the complex propositions, and will share their findings and recommendations at this San José event. Hosted by SPUR Urban Center.

A screening of Near Miss, a short film by Josh Berry about a shark encounter and survival, followed by a Q&A with CWSP researchers Scot Anderson and Dr. Paul Kanive. Anderson and Kanive have spent over 30 years studying white sharks along the Marin and San Francisco coastline, building the world's longest-running data set on the species and developing an education program that brings white shark research into local classrooms. The evening supports the California White Shark Project and includes live music and a raffle of outdoor-themed prizes.

An evening of poetry and collective creation exploring themes of care, vulnerability, and connection. Poets aracelis girmay, Ladan Khoddam-Khorasani, Gabriel Cortez, and Dora Prieto read work that asks how we dwell in liminal spaces and what we might invite or abandon to return more whole. The event concludes with audience members collaboratively writing a closing poem drawn from the room.

Carlos Augusto Garcia, Principal and Studio Director at Brooks Scarpa Huber Architects, discusses designing with measurable outcomes and climate justice. Drawing on his experience in post-Katrina disaster recovery and national leadership in sustainable design, Garcia will explore evidence-based design, environmental stewardship, and how architectural practice can serve as a public health intervention. The presentation emphasizes BSH's investigative studio culture as a driver for design excellence and responsible innovation. Hosted by Latinos in Architecture in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Bestselling Oakland romance novelist Jasmine Guillory celebrates the launch of her debut young adult novel, *It's Only Dancing*, a *Dirty Dancing*-inspired story set at a summer camp. Guillory will be in conversation with Maggie Tokuda-Hall, a lauded author of books for children and teens. The evening includes cake, ice cream, and bubbles in honor of Guillory's birthday.

A discussion of Tribal sovereignty, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), prediction markets, and the future of Tribal gaming. Moderated by Professor Kevin Washburn, the panel features Tim Evans and Michael Hoenig of the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation and Scott Crowell of Crowell Law Offices.

A demo of an open-source memory layer for AI agents, followed by a panel discussion. The event explores how memory architectures work in agentic systems and includes a live demonstration of a sales enablement tool built on these principles.

A four-session immersive workshop with Grammy-nominated composer and sound shaman Silvia Nakkach exploring sound as a living, cosmic force. Participants will learn to improvise icaros (Peruvian Amazon healing songs), Indian ragas, Afro-Brazilian invocations, and medicine melodies — spontaneous transmissions from nature and the spirit world. The workshop cultivates contemplative listening, vocal freedom, and attunement through shamanic sound practices, with no prior singing experience required. Nakkach draws on decades of study across traditions to guide participants toward healing, spiritual receptivity, and the transformative power of sonic presence.

A monthly salon for open-knowledge enthusiasts to collaboratively edit Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap. Participants work together on improving free, crowd-sourced reference materials and mapping data — no prior editing experience required. Hosted at The Fold.

Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Emerita at NYU, discusses her new book *Sugar Coated*, exploring the scientific, political, and corporate forces shaping American food consumption. Nestle is a leading expert on food policy whose work has influenced decades of public conversation about nutrition, industry lobbying, and dietary choice. She is the author of *Food Politics*, *Soda Politics*, *Unsavory Truth*, and *What to Eat*, among sixteen books total, and has received the James Beard Leadership Award and the 2023 Edinburgh Medal.

Award-winning author-illustrator Grace Lin discusses her latest picture book, *The Little Stone Buddha*. Lin is a New York Times bestselling author known for her distinctive voice in children's literature and illustration.

New York Times bestselling author Tilar J. Mazzeo discusses her latest book, *The Sea Captain's Wife*. Co-presented with Litquake at the Mechanics' Institute, a trusted civic institution.

Migration ethics through a Catholic lens and women's lived experience. Rev. Francis L. Markey Women in Ministry Lecture featuring Dr. Kristin Heyer, Joseph Chair in Theology at Boston College and author of *Kinship Across Borders: A Christian Ethic of Immigration*. Heyer examines how migrant women's experiences challenge simplistic immigration narratives, interrogate Catholic social teaching's capacity to counter injustice, and point toward structural change rooted in hope and resistance. A past-president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, Heyer brings scholarly and pastoral expertise to this intersection of feminist ethics, migration, and the common good.

Asale Angel-Ajani discusses her memoir *Fugitive Archives: An American Family and the Myth of Belonging*, an incisive exploration of one family's history that challenges American myths about race, violence, and belonging. In conversation with Carvell Wallace, a writer and cultural critic.

A panel of writers exploring the tensions and rewards of working simultaneously as authors and literary critics. Speakers May-lee Chai, Jane Ciabattari, Jonathan Leal, and Greg Sarris will discuss ethical considerations, the vulnerability of creative writing, and lessons from Virginia Woolf's dual practice, moderated by Iris Jamahl Dunkle. Jessi Haley, editor of Cita Press, joins as special guest. Co-presented by the National Book Critics Circle and Cita Press.

Two novelists interrogate the mythology of liberation in the late 1960s, exploring what "free love" and radical movements actually offered women. Alexis Krasilovsky, filmmaker and author of the forthcoming *Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman*, and Judy Juanita, whose semi-autobiographical novel *Virgin Soul* traces a young Black woman's entry into the Black Panther Party, draw on their own lived histories to ask: Could radical movements escape the inequalities they sought to overthrow? What did it take for women to claim themselves as artists and political actors rather than muses, girlfriends, or supporting characters? Moving between the New York art world, women filmmakers, and Oakland's revolutionary politics, they examine how women tell the story of a supposedly liberated generation for themselves.

A book launch celebration for Asale Angel-Ajani's *Fugitive Archives*, featuring the author in conversation with Oakland writer Carvell Wallace. Co-presented by Litquake.

Bay Area Skeptics hosts a casual evening at an Irish pub on the Peninsula for science-minded community members to socialize, eat, and connect. The event coincides with International Skeptics Day and includes a virtual component via Zoom linking to a global 'Skeptics in the Pub' event. No structured talk or speaker program is described.

Mike de la Rocha, bestselling author and co-founder of Revolve Impact and Tepito Coffee, discusses his USA Today bestselling memoir *Sacred Lessons: Teaching My Father How to Love* in conversation with Lorena Gonzalez, a Bay Area community college educator and Ethnic Studies professor. They explore masculinity, identity, and healing generational wounds, drawing on Mike's year-long book tour and his critically acclaimed Sacred Lessons Podcast with iHeartMedia. The event is an intimate conversation about emotional transformation and family healing.

A concert and conversation exploring protest music's role in social movements. Acclaimed artists Diana Gameros, The Sam Chase, and Marcus Shelby perform and discuss classic and original protest songs with host James Sullivan, drawing on the Bay Area's tradition of resistance and activism. The event examines how songs become anthems that inspire resistance, build solidarity, and propel social change.

An open mic poetry night at Noe Valley Books where community members share work at all levels. Poets have a 5-minute time slot and may share multiple pieces. Sign up in advance as either poet or attendee.

Why do infectious disease headlines keep dominating the news? Dr. Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine and Director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research, examines the current landscape of measles, cyclosporiasis, hantavirus, Ebola, rising STIs, and HIV amid global health funding cuts. She addresses the erosion of trust in scientific institutions, the fractures in the U.S. healthcare system, and what collective action could repair infectious disease response.

A lightning-talk meetup for people working on or interested in biosecurity, covering pandemic prevention technology, AI evaluation for biorisks, and know-your-customer protocols for synthetic DNA. Hosted by Joey Bream.

Join chef and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi for an evening celebrating his forthcoming cookbook *Ottolenghi Simple Too*, the long-awaited follow-up to his bestselling *Ottolenghi Simple*. Ottolenghi will discuss his latest collection of accessible, ingredient-focused recipes and share insights into his culinary philosophy and creative process.

Nutritionist and Stanford researcher Dr. Christopher Gardner discusses findings from his 25+ clinical trials on diet and long-term health. Gardner addresses the conflicting nutrition advice flooding public discourse, debunking myths about weight loss, cholesterol, seed oils, plant-based meats, ultra-processed foods, protein, GMOs, fiber, and fermented foods. The talk explores how food choices integrate health, taste, pleasure, culture, and values—climate, animal welfare, worker conditions. Gardner emphasizes that sustainable dietary change requires enjoyment and alignment with identity, not restriction. He shares practical kitchen strategies and favorite recipes to help listeners eat more plants and less processed food and sugar.

A panel of writers and critics exploring the dual role of author and critic, drawing on Virginia Woolf's example. Speakers May-lee Chai, Jane Ciabattari, Jonathan Leal, and Greg Sarris will discuss ethical considerations, creative vulnerabilities, and navigating a strong critical voice while writing. Moderated by Iris Jamahl Dunkle with Jessi Haley, editor of Cita Press, joining as special guest.

A conversation with artists Danielle Baskin and Taylor Tabb about manufacturing in China as part of an independent creative practice. They'll walk through their own experiences: finding and communicating with factories, ordering specialty parts, navigating samples and costs, and distributing finished work. The discussion explores when to scale beyond solo production, how to preserve your artistic vision through manufacturing, and whether mass production can strengthen rather than compromise your work. Designed for artists, tinkerers, and creatives considering greater production volumes or curious about what factories can enable.

A magical evening celebrating San Francisco's pioneering new circus movement of the 1970s through panel conversation with legendary performers and directors. Featuring Gypsy Snider, Shana Carroll, Jeff Raz, and Tandy Beal — all veterans of the Pickle Family Circus and New Pickle Circus — alongside rare archival photos, video, and live performances by Bay Area circus artists including Unique Derique, Chloe Somers Walier, Elise Hing, and San Francisco Youth Circus performers. This intimate, countercultural circus tradition spurned animal acts and focused on juggling, clowning, acrobatics, and aerial work, spawning talents who went on to influence Cirque du Soleil, Broadway, film, and television.

Live demonstrations of AI agents in action. Five builders will present five-minute agent demos with no slides or pitches, showcasing working systems and real-time capabilities. A hands-on window into how AI agents are being built and deployed in the Bay Area.

Debut romance author Kathleen Reidy celebrates her novel *Engineering A Love Story*, set in San Francisco during the dot-com boom of the early 2000s. Hosted by Bookshop West Portal.

A conversation on consciousness, neuroscience, and human experience. Best-selling author Michael Pollan, known for works spanning food politics and psychedelic research, discusses the nature of consciousness with Christof Koch, computational neuroscientist and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The event explores cutting-edge research into how consciousness emerges and what psychedelics reveal about the human mind.

A celebration of the short story form in contemporary publishing. Three local writers—Rucy Cui, Cristina Fríes, and William Lohier—read from their work and discuss why this precise, difficult form persists in magazines and workshops despite marginalization by the broader publishing industry. Moderated by Litquake Artistic Director Graham Todd. Pay-what-you-can for reserved seating; free for walk-ups as space permits.

A live debate between the candidates for California's 11th Congressional District: City Supervisor Connie Chan and State Senator Scott Wiener. Moderated by Joe Eskenazi of Mission Local and Heather Knight of the New York Times.

A discussion of Trump's efforts to restrict mail-in voting: the strategic rationale, electoral implications, and legal challenges ahead. Speakers include Shilpi Agarwal, legal director at the ACLU of Northern California (free speech and voting rights), and Bertrall Ross, professor at UC Berkeley Law (constitutional law and election law).

Two astronomy talks at this month's Astronomy on Tap East Bay. Natalie LeBaron discusses stellar evolution and how dying stars seed the ingredients for new worlds. Tony Rodriguez explores binary star systems — the norm rather than exception in the universe — and his transition from astrophysics research to applied work at Waymo. Part of a worldwide series bringing accessible astronomy talks to bars and public spaces.

The Center for Monster Studies at UC Santa Cruz presents its annual Festival of Monsters, exploring how monsters represent some of the world's most pressing challenges: race, religion, social justice, and environmental threats. The festival combines public days (October 14 and 17) with an academic conference (October 14–18) featuring talks, panels, and discussions on monsters in culture, literature, film, and social imagination. Hosted by the Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.

The 19th Annual UCSF Health Equity and Anti-Racism Research (HEAR) Symposium brings together researchers, clinicians, and public health professionals to advance equity-focused clinical and translational research. Keynote speaker Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH — Associate Dean of Clinical and Translational Research at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and MPI for the NIH All of Us program — will discuss health disparities and community-based research approaches. The full-day program features AI-enabled live translation in 10 languages and accessibility accommodations. Hosted by UCSF at Mission Bay Conference Center.

A summit convening leaders from industry, academia, and government to explore how emerging technologies are reshaping the U.S.-India strategic partnership. Discussions focus on AI, semiconductor supply chains, technology cooperation, and trust-building between the two nations. The program advances the Technology, Resilience, and U.S.-India Strategic Ties (TRUST) Initiative and Pax Silica, translating high-level commitments into practical collaboration. Hosted at Stanford University's Hoover Institution with follow-up masterclasses, curated tours of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and networking opportunities.

BRAVE's interactive art and awareness exhibit on domestic violence, featuring community engagement through art, reflection, and conversation. Drop in anytime between 9:30 am and 3:30 pm on October 14th at UC Berkeley.

A lecture on using the ancestral recombination graph (ARG)—a computational structure representing the history of coalescent and recombination events in genomic sequences—to infer past evolutionary processes. The speaker presents three projects employing ARGs to study natural selection: estimating the distribution of fitness effects of new mutations, inferring the mutational model of short tandem repeats (STRs), and measuring stabilizing selection on complex traits. ARG-based methods are shown to outperform traditional approaches that rely on summary statistics alone.

A hands-on textile workshop exploring how traditional needlework and pattern-making can express memory, emotion, identity, and belonging. Led by textile artist and designer Krysten Lee, participants will transform a personal story, feeling, or memory into a handmade textile pattern, connecting traditional craft with contemporary design thinking. No prior textile or sewing experience required.

A historical survey of American annexation proposals toward Canada from the founding era to the present day, examining major turning points in US-Canada relations and how Canadian politicians have invoked annexation fears for political advantage, extending through recent trade disputes. Presented by Greg Wigmore, History Department, Santa Clara University.

Join a celebration of Philippine arts and Filipinx American History Month featuring culture bearer Lyn Amfan Buti, a T'boli elder, chef, and tradition keeper from Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. Buti will share indigenous knowledge and cultural practices, accompanied by a Sama-inspired courtship dance performance (Tariray) from USF dance students. As a recognized cultural master and ritual specialist who has performed internationally and appeared on Filipino national television, Buti dedicates her work to preserving and sharing T'boli heritage with audiences worldwide.

Dr. Morag M. Kersel of DePaul University discusses looting, loss, and landscape at Early Bronze Age archaeological sites in Jordan. Part of the Stanford Archaeology Center's Lunch Club series, a community forum for engagement with current issues in archaeology.

A Medicine Grand Rounds lecture featuring Rana Awdish, MD, a critical care physician whose near-death experience as a patient transformed her medical practice. Awdish discusses her bestselling memoir *In Shock*, which explores medicine from the patient's perspective and has become essential reading for clinicians seeking to understand the human dimensions of critical care.

A seminar on how antibiotics disrupt microbiome stability and resilience, enabling pathogenic colonization, with strategies for prediction and remediation. Speaker: Gautam Dantas, microbiologist studying host-microbe interactions and antibiotic impacts.

A talk exploring South Korea's rise as a global semiconductor memory powerhouse from 1983 to the present and beyond. C.S. Park, former Chairman and CEO of SK hynix (formerly Hyundai Electronics), will discuss how Korean firms overcame early technological and financial constraints to dominate memory chip manufacturing, navigate industry consolidation, and pivot toward high-margin AI-critical products like High Bandwidth Memory. The presentation will address current challenges and future trajectories: Moore's Law limits, Chinese competition, the U.S. footprint, engineering talent, cyclical demand, geopolitics, and the semiconductor industry's role in the global AI era.

Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá (Not From Here, Not From There) is a multidisciplinary exhibition by artist Victor 'Marka27' Quiñonez exploring the experience of living between worlds. The show features altars, an immersive botanica, paintings referencing textiles and graffiti traditions, and brightly colored resin sculptures of melting Mexican paletas. Accompanying the exhibition, Elevar la Cultura—a twenty-two-foot-tall pyramid built from ice coolers adorned with ancestral textiles and sacred symbols—will be installed at Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos. The cooler sculptures symbolize immigrant labor and survival in the United States, transforming everyday objects into monuments of resilience and cultural pride.

Diana Martinez (UC Berkeley Architecture) discusses her book *Concrete Colonialism* (Duke, 2025), which traces how the U.S. colonial regime in the Philippines weaponized reinforced concrete as a tool of imperial domination. Martinez argues that concrete's material qualities — stability, plasticity, strength — enabled lasting environmental and biological transformation of colonized territories, with origins in Chicago's geology-defying urban development. The book examines how this material revolution served colonial imperatives: defending territory, controlling disease, and constructing monuments to nation and empire. Martinez is in conversation with Matthew Shutzer (UC Berkeley History), followed by audience Q&A.

How did the Ukraine war begin, and how might it end? Alexandra Vacroux, Vice President for Strategic Engagement at the Kyiv School of Economics and former Executive Director of Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and Yevhenii Malik, a former Marine Infantry sergeant and Ukraine War veteran with extensive frontline experience including the 2022 battle for Mariupol, discuss the latest military developments and the economic and political factors shaping negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, and Europe.

PhD researchers Krystal Anderson (Special Education, Human Rights Center Fellow) and Jane Mango Angar (Political Science, Rocca Fellow) present work-in-progress from their dissertations. Anderson's research focuses on community-based rehabilitation in Ghana; Angar examines marginalized voices and state intervention in her project "From Fragmentation to Recognition." Light lunch provided.

A briefing on cybersecurity best practices for students and employees, presented by SJSU in collaboration with the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Topics include safeguarding accounts and devices, password managers, and creating strong passwords, with time for Q&A.

Recent aerial archaeology—satellite imagery, drones, and piloted surveys—has transformed our understanding of Neolithic settlement in Jordan's Black Desert, revealing intensive human occupation rather than marginal use. Yorke Rowan of the University of Chicago's Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures presents evidence from the built environment, including thousands of desert kites (animal traps), buildings, and wheels, alongside excavation data showing how prehistoric people hunted gazelle, herded domesticated sheep, and maintained connections across Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Arabia.

Jasmin Brooks Stephens, Assistant Professor of Clinical Science at UC Berkeley, presents research on suicide prevention for Black youth, examining how racism-related stress and racial trauma shape vulnerability to suicidal ideation and behavior. Rather than crisis-focused intervention, she introduces the Black Youth Thriving Framework, a strengths-based model that cultivates developmental assets supporting resilience and flourishing. Stephens will outline a research agenda for upstream, community-engaged prevention science centered on youth voice, mixed-methods approaches, and culturally responsive systems of care.

Rob Voigt, a distinguished scholar, delivers a lecture as part of UC Berkeley's Bellwether Lecture Series, which showcases cutting-edge research and insights across disciplines. Voigt's work spans quantitative social science and computational methods. The series brings leading researchers to campus to share their scholarship with the Berkeley community and the public.

A lecture on moving beyond monoculture as a framework for understanding Caribbean literature, history, and society. Hannah Rachel Cole, a scholar of environmental humanities and Caribbean literature, explores how representations of plant life in Caribbean literature challenge the plantation system as a totalizing historical narrative. Her work appears in Environmental Humanities, Latin American Literary Review, and several forthcoming edited collections. Part of the Center for Cultural Studies' weekly Wednesday colloquium at UC Santa Cruz.

Deborah Claymon and Elizabeth Stark read new work in The Writers Grotto's Words & Stories Reading Series at Wetland Garden in Salesforce Park.

An afternoon session exploring Zero Net Carbon Design across the building lifecycle, featuring two expert panels. The first panel—including sustainability leaders from manufacturing, consulting, and construction—examines material durability, recyclability, and embodied carbon reduction through practical detailing, life-cycle assessment, and industry frameworks. The second panel presents all-electric building case studies, including an affordable housing project with modular construction targeting zero net energy and a county office building, sharing insights from goal-setting through execution. Hosted by AIA San Francisco at the Center for Architecture + Design.

A hands-on introduction to archival research and practice in UCSC's Special Collections & Archives Reading Room. Participants will explore primary sources, discuss archival methods with fellow students, and ask questions about conducting archival research at UCSC and beyond. Co-sponsored by the Center for Archival Research & Training (CART) and The Humanities Institute. Open to graduate and undergraduate students.

The 2026 Festival of Monsters is a five-day academic conference exploring how monsters and monstrosity shape culture, hosted by UC Santa Cruz's Center for Monster Studies. The program brings together scholars, artists, students, and the public for presentations, performances, and creative engagement with monster mythology and cultural representation. The festival culminates with public events in downtown Santa Cruz on Saturday, October 17, including the Monsters Ball. Registration includes a welcome reception, meals, and all conference sessions. UCSC-affiliated students, staff, and faculty attend free (food not included).

An open forum with San Jose State University's Accreditation Review Committee on institutional resources and organizational structures. Students, faculty, staff, and administrators are invited to discuss WASC Standard 3 — how SJSU's staffing, facilities, finances, technology, and decision-making systems can better support student success. The session welcomes lived experience and perspective from across the campus community.

A talk on inclusive AI systems that serve diverse languages and cultures. Parth, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering at Santa Clara University, presents two research lines: MENTORQA, which develops multi-agent systems generating mentorship-oriented question-answering over multilingual long-form content, and When Cultures Meet, which studies how generative models represent culturally grounded concepts and demographic groups across different countries and languages. The work examines challenges in making AI more inclusive, accessible, and culturally aware while providing meaningful real-world value.

Partha Ranganathan, VP and Technical Fellow at Google, discusses the computing infrastructure and innovations powering AI development — from data centers and hardware to software solutions. Drawing an analogy to President Kennedy's moonshot speech, Ranganathan explores the 'rocket engines' required across the entire computing stack, examines the emerging unicorn companies driving AI infrastructure, and envisions a future of 'centaurs' — symbiotic partnerships between human ingenuity and AI. He concludes by addressing responsible innovation and the need for cross-community collaboration beyond technical fields.

How do stimulated neurons rapidly meet their energy demands? Dr. Gary Yellen, Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, presents quantitative fluorescent biosensor imaging to reveal the metabolic responses of individual neurons to activity. Recent findings show that in several mouse brain neuron types, energy demands are met through direct neuronal glucose utilization rather than lactate shuttling from astrocytes—uncovering signaling mechanisms that may differ from classical metabolic pathways in other cell types.

Marco Garrido, associate professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and author of *The Patchwork City: Class, Space, and Politics in Metro Manila*, examines why the urban poor in Manila supported Rodrigo Duterte's drug war (Tokhang) despite being its primary targets. Drawing on 53 interviews across six neighborhoods in Tondo, Garrido reconstructs the social worlds of affected communities to show how support for the drug war made sense within them—not merely as fear or misinformation, but as a response to demand for social order. He argues the drug war was both top-down policy and bottom-up enterprise, enabled by community participation.

A lecture on the transition to a low-carbon economy and its implications for energy production and consumption across societies. The event explores how this shift is reshaping policy, industry, and social structures globally. Hosted by UC Berkeley.

A lecture on the philosophical and physical understanding of time as fundamentally spatial or reducible to space. David Z. Albert, Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and author of *Quantum Mechanics and Experience* and *Time and Chance*, explores Augustine's ancient puzzle about why time seems more mysterious than space, traces this intuition through Western philosophy, and argues that a reinterpretation of D. C. Williams' work offers a radical path toward understanding time through space—one with implications for foundational physics and our grasp of reality itself. Part of the Howison Lectures in Philosophy series.

A hands-on workshop exploring real-world Claude Code workflows and troubleshooting techniques. Attendees will learn practical patterns for using Claude's code capabilities and work through common implementation challenges. Ideal for developers and engineers looking to integrate Claude into their projects.

Curtis Langlotz of Stanford University discusses training a medical imaging foundation model on Stanford's 2-petabyte digital radiology archive. The talk covers self-supervision methods for massive healthcare datasets, new techniques to reduce training costs, and how to improve efficiency and accuracy of machine learning applied to large-scale imaging data. Part of AI + Data for Science, a weekly Stanford seminar on AI and data-driven methods across the sciences, organized by Emmanuel Candès, Balasubramanian Narasimhan, Brian Wandell, and Gordon Wetzstein.

Moustafa Bayoumi, Professor of English at Brooklyn College and author of *How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?* and *This Muslim American Life*, explores parallels between Palestinian dispossession and the Tohono O'odham Nation's struggle against US border wall construction on their Arizona reservation. Both peoples face surveillance regimes, siege conditions, land seizure justified by military necessity, and isolation through border walls. Bayoumi investigates how O'odham activism draws on Palestinian frameworks to resist erasure and secure indigenous rights. The lecture draws from his forthcoming book *Like a Palestinian: How the Idea of Palestine Has Changed in—and Is Changing—America*.

Vineet Edupuganti, Co-Founder and CEO of Cogent Security, discusses his journey scaling applied AI companies in enterprise cybersecurity. Edupuganti previously led product and platform divisions at Abnormal AI after roles in machine learning engineering. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford. Part of Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, which features founders, investors, and industry leaders discussing innovation and disruption.

A recurring conversation series hosted by UC Santa Cruz's Right Livelihood Center, held every other Wednesday evenings in the dining hall. Each session frames a different theme — from personal meaning-making to activism, mental health, and immigration justice — and invites students across all majors and colleges to gather over food and tea for facilitated dialogue on questions that matter. The structured salon format prioritizes student voice and collective thinking about social change.

A talk examining cancer, minoritized identities, and public humanities scholarship at the intersections of biomedical knowledge, cultural authority, and epistemic justice. Prof. Mary Bryson juxtaposes *Taclc*, the first widely broadcast cancer-focused educational television series, with archival materials from her own Stage IV lung cancer documents, exploring how autobiographical writing functions as research method, cultural critique, and public health intervention. Hosted by the Medical Humanities Research Workshop at Stanford University.

Loubna Mrie discusses her memoir *Defiance*, an account of growing up in Syria under authoritarian rule, where schoolchildren learned that loyalty meant survival, curiosity was forbidden, and dissent was treachery. The book explores her journey from fear and compliance to awakening and rebellion, offering insight into life under oppressive regimes and the human cost of political repression. Hosted by Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California, a nonpartisan civic institution.

A gothic and atmospheric novel exploring loss, freedom, death, and resurrection by Lyndsay Faye, celebrated author of *Jane Steele* and *Dust and Shadow*. Faye reads from and discusses *Raven*, described as clever, darkly funny, and enthralling. Event at Book Passage Ferry Building.

A 6-session monthly reflective practice group for mediators, beginning January 2026, led by Howard Herman, an experienced mediator and former director of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco's ADR Program. Participants take turns presenting anonymized mediation cases to explore what interventions worked, what challenges arose, and how to deepen their practice. Limited to 12 practicing mediators, the group creates a confidential, supportive environment for collaborative learning and peer reflection.

Small architecture firms face recurring crossroads: startup, client selection, difficult conversations, and ownership transition. This AIASF Small Firms program brings together legal, practice-management, and architect perspectives to discuss what firms can put in place ahead of time and how to respond when issues are underway. Using practical scenarios and questions from the Small Firms community, the moderated discussion focuses on planning for better outcomes, avoiding common traps, and making intentional decisions at important moments in a firm's development. Participants will identify key business and legal decisions at firm milestones, evaluate how early decisions affect future outcomes, and develop practical next steps.

An evening exploring Bay Area circular fashion through resale innovation and mending craft. A panel discussion on the business and future of re-commerce features Jake Disraeli (Co-Founder and CEO of Treet), Noelle Bonner (Founder and CEO of TheNOBO), and Talia Brown & Jon-Jon Prejean (Co-Owners of The Wardrobe Project), moderated by fashion tech strategist Liz Hwang. Followed by a hands-on sashiko workshop led by Jillian Clark of Roboro, where attendees can repair or transform a worn garment. Community networking and beverages throughout. Bring a garment from home to work on.

Travel writer and journalist Matt Villano discusses his book *Wineland: Celebrating the Heart of Sonoma*, an exploration of the region's wine culture, vineyards, and the people who shape its identity.

Discover how to cultivate wonder, curiosity, and magic in everyday life to reduce stress, strengthen relationships, and enhance well-being. San Francisco illusionist Andrew Evans, founder of The Magic Patio and a recent Penn and Teller: Fool Us contestant, joins award-winning New York Times writer and creativity advisor Laura Holson, founder of The Box Sessions. The program concludes with Evans teaching everyone a magic trick they can use to entertain and amaze.

A screening and artist talk series featuring two current exhibiting artists at Gray Area. Yoon Chung Han discusses Dreaming Babies: illi, a solo exhibition transforming the gallery into a virtual nursery with 23 simulated babies generated from real genetic data, each representing a different human chromosome and inviting reflection on genetic potential. Tori Sommerhof presents Requiem Aternum, an experimental found-footage film composed entirely of physical media—textbooks, manuals, pamphlets—exploring what is worth remembering. Part of Patch Bay, Gray Area's weekly Wednesday series for media artists and creative technologists exploring emerging technology, AI, and experimental work in the Bay Area.

A panel on grassroots organizing strategies for confronting intersecting crises and resisting billionaire-class agendas. Speakers include Tim Faust (organizer with Francesca Hong's gubernatorial campaign), Gopal Dayaneni (co-founder, Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project), Citlalli Aparicio (AFSCME 3299), and Lupe Limón Corrales (LA Tenants Union).

PG&E CEO Patti Poppe discusses the utility's response to rising electricity prices, power outages, and climate-driven grid challenges following the company's 2018 Camp Fire conviction. Hosted by Greg Dalton, founder and co-host of Climate One.

A hands-on workshop on running AI locally. Attendees will learn to set up and deploy AI models on their own machines, exploring alternatives to cloud-based AI services. Hosted at Hacker Dojo.

Holly A. Ingraham, Herzstein Professor of Molecular Physiology at UCSF, discusses how hormonal fluctuations in the brain and body drive adaptive responses across the female lifespan, with implications for metabolic, skeletal, and gut health. Part of The Science Scoop, a quarterly public lecture series where UCSF researchers share curiosity-driven discoveries and their impact on human health. Q&A follows.

Explore best practices for handling, storing, and framing photographs to preserve historic materials. Learn about photographic techniques across decades and how different processes affect preservation of these sensitive treasures. Part of the San Francisco Public Library's One City One Book programming, featuring world-class designers, artists, and conservation experts.

Three Bay Area mystery authors discuss their distinct approaches to crime fiction. Gigi Pandian writes locked-room mysteries and cozy fantasy; Carmela Dutra writes food truck cozies grounded in family and farmers' markets; M.M. Chouinard writes psychological thrillers including The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco series and holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology. An evening exploring different flavors of mystery writing.

Katie Holten, award-winning artist and environmental activist, discusses her bestselling 2023 book *The Language of Trees*, which presents a Tree Alphabet translating literary passages about nature—from creation myths to the death of a 3,500-year-old cypress, from Mongolian Tree Clocks to the Amazon. Holten explores how trees, typography, and language reshape our understanding of landscape, memory, and time. In conversation with Lauren Markham, author of *The Far Away Brothers* and *Immemorial*, they examine the relationship between literature and landscape and how natural systems inspire imaginative language and renewed perception.

Jon Else recounts the science, politics, and human experience behind nuclear weapons development and testing from the 1940s through 1992. Centered on 'Priscilla,' a 37-kiloton bomb detonated at Frenchman Flat, Nevada in 1957, the book traces the dual struggle to produce ever more powerful weapons and to ban their testing. Else examines the physics of postwar megaton bombs, Cold War near-misses, the role of private industry, and firsthand accounts from scientists, politicians, weapons developers, test-site workers, ranchers, and downwind families. He explores how deterrence, diplomacy, and luck prevented nuclear war and what the arms race cost the planet and human bodies.

A screening of 'The Work in Progress' with Robert Reich, UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus and executive producer of the film. Reich brings together Americans across the country to discuss the state of democracy, identity, and community in the nation's 250th year, seeking common ground on divisive issues. Following the screening, Reich and a special guest will host a conversation inspired by the film's themes.

A fall art opening and community conversation celebrating creativity and connection. Artist Jen Bloomer's new collection is on display. Local author and community builder Courtney Martin leads a panel discussion featuring comedian and documentary filmmaker W. Kamau Bell, artist Wendy MacNaughton, community leader Stephanie Balon, urban farmer Alfred Montenegro, and bestselling author Kate Schatz. Music and refreshments included.

A networking and speaker event featuring two female founders building community-focused businesses in Marin County. Grace Kraaijvanger, founder of The Hivery (a Mill Valley coworking space for creative and entrepreneurial women), and Justine Reichman, founder of NextGen Purpose (a sustainability-focused venture and podcast with 1.6M downloads), discuss their entrepreneurial journeys and community-building work. Co-hosted and moderated by Sophie Davies (Cuppa Culture) and Megan Stewart (The Spoonlist). The evening includes wine and non-alcoholic beverages, locally sourced food, and a raffle. Tickets are $50 and include tastings and exclusive shopping perks.

A Dutch-U.S. panel exploring the semiconductor and hardware constraints limiting AI development and deployment. The discussion examines current bottlenecks in chip production, supply chains, and computational capacity that affect the scaling of AI systems. Hosted by the Consulate General of the Netherlands.

Educator, organizer, and policy expert Scott Goldstein discusses his book *Human-Centered Schools: A Roadmap to Sustainable School Progress*, which proposes transforming education through a human-centered approach rooted in relationships, trust, and student-centered learning—moving beyond high-stakes testing, evaluation, and accountability-focused models. The event includes a book signing.

An experimental lecture and tea service exploring Chinamaxxing—the contemporary fascination with Chinese culture, aesthetics, and practices—as a response to disillusionment with Western institutions. Kelsey Chen, a PhD candidate in Modern Thought & Literature at Stanford and artist-in-residence at Now Place in San Francisco Chinatown, traces how tea ceremony, martial arts, and other Chinese traditions have become symbols of alternative epistemologies and political critique, drawing parallels to 1960s Western counterculture's turn toward Eastern philosophy. The evening includes a talk, guided tea service, and informal discussion.

Former track star and pro-MMA fighter Jenny Liou and outdoor adventure sports veteran Yi Shun Lai—both memoirists—discuss writing about identities and bodies shaped by athletic dedication. They explore questions of post-competitive identity, healing, and how race and gender intersect with narratives of athletic achievement in white and male-dominated sports. In conversation with author and former pro-wrestler Michael Copperman.

Dr. Alan Ceaser, a licensed clinical psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, explores how systems of power and cultural conditioning shape our thinking and identity. Drawing on neuroscience and decolonization frameworks, Ceaser examines the relationship between mind, culture, and the forces that influence self-understanding—and what it means to reclaim our minds from internalized beliefs. The talk considers identity, healing, and liberation while exploring how unlearning can enable freedom. Includes Q&A and informal discussion.

A Death Cafe — an informal gathering where strangers come together over tea and cake to discuss mortality and how we live. Unlike a grief support group, there is no agenda or therapeutic push; the format simply creates space for open conversation about death to deepen our awareness of life. Facilitated by Yael Galinson, a death doula and Jewish death educator with Sinai Memorial, the event draws on Jewish rituals and practices while remaining open to all perspectives. The Death Cafe format, developed in the UK in 2011, has since spread to over 97 countries.

An evening celebrating the sculptural artist books of Servane Briand, exploring how translation operates as a collaborative, multidimensional process bridging text, physical structure, and design. The event showcases three works from her *Passages of Babel* series—*Arise by Any Other Name*, *A Comme Babel*, and *Making Sense*—each created in collaboration with poets and translators. Briand will read alongside collaborators Patrick Fenton and Samuel Mignot, followed by a conversation led by Olivia Sears on translation as a physical, tactile journey. For readers of translated literature, contemporary art lovers, and design enthusiasts.

An author talk with Clara Lee and Eddo Kim, co-founders of Queens, a San Francisco-based Korean American food company. They discuss their new cookbook *Korean Soups: Recipes for Soups and Stews That Nourish, Restore, and Delight*, which celebrates traditional Korean soup recipes made with locally sourced ingredients. Lee, a chef, draws on her family heritage and relationships with local farmers to create nostalgic, simple dishes. Kim, a former educator, brings a thoughtful approach to ingredient sourcing and food production. Together they explore how Korean culinary traditions translate to the Bay Area food landscape.

Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Artistic Director of Berlin's Arsenal Filminstitut, presents a week-long series exploring different modes of archival practice and curatorial work. Schulte Strathaus will discuss recent film restoration projects completed by archives in Germany, Egypt, and Nigeria, and reflect on programs she has developed including the Berlinale's Forum, Arsenal's Living Archive project, and the biennial Archival Assembly festival. A leading voice in international film preservation and curation, she serves on the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives and advises institutions globally. The series culminates with the Mosse Lecture on October 16.

A conversation on Rolling Stone's founding in San Francisco in 1967 and its role as a vanguard of West Coast counterculture for the next decade. Music journalist James Sullivan hosts former Rolling Stone staffers Ben Fong-Torres and Marianne Partridge, alongside authors Peter Richardson and Charles Ponce de Leon, to reconstruct the magazine's early history—the writers it launched, the music coverage that set new standards, and the Bay Area moment that defined it. Doors at 6:30 pm.

Clinical scientist Dr. Breanna Bullard of UC Berkeley explores the science of brain aging and dementia prevention. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, she examines what happens in the brain over decades, why some people stay sharp into later life while others don't, and which modifiable risk factors most influence long-term brain health. The talk cuts through common myths and translates dense neuroscience into practical, evidence-based habits attendees can use today to support successful aging.

A keynote on cultivating inner capacities for wise, compassionate living in an age of AI and digital distraction. Drawing from Buddhist contemplative traditions, Kaira Jewel Lingo—senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage, former ordained nun, and author of *We Were Made for These Times*—explores how mindfulness, loving-kindness, and community practice can reclaim embodied presence, relational intelligence, and ethical discernment. The talk addresses navigating trauma, polarization, and the attention economy through contemplative practice and engaged spirituality. Part one of a three-part Contemplation By Design Summit series; additional workshop and guided practice sessions available Oct. 15–16.

What can 66-million-year-old dinosaur bones teach us about living well today? Paleontologist Scott D. Sampson, host of PBS Kids' *Dinosaur Train* and author of *How to Raise a Wild Child*, takes audiences on a journey through deep time to explore what dinosaurs reveal about our present moment. The talk weaves wonder and reflection, designed for anyone who loved dinosaurs as a child or still does. Includes Q&A.

Bestselling author Gemma Hartley reads from and discusses her memoir *No One Loves an Angry Woman*, an intimate exploration of how women's anger can catalyze personal and social change. Building on themes from her previous book *Fed Up*, Hartley examines the cultural narratives that police women's emotional expression and invites readers to reclaim anger as a tool for transformation.

An evening exploring how variation drives innovation across brain science, genetics, and music. UCSF neuroscientists and San Francisco Conservatory of Music musicians examine genetic mutations, neurological disease, and musical improvisation as sources of both possibility and vulnerability. Featured speakers include Bruce L. Miller, director of the UCSF Fein Memory and Aging Center; David H. Stull, SFCM president; Aimee Kao and William Seeley of UCSF neurology; and Edwin Outwater, SFCM music director. The program combines short talks, musical demonstrations, and live performance to investigate how unexpected change becomes creative innovation.

Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth, On Beauty, NW, The Fraud, and the essay collection Dead and Alive (named a Best Book of 2025 by Time, The New Yorker, and Barack Obama), discusses her work and ideas about contemporary culture, post-colonialism, and community. In conversation with Sam Fragoso, writer, filmmaker, and host of the podcast Talk Easy distributed by Higher Ground Productions.

Six Bay Area writers—poets Judy Halebsky and Dean Rader, fiction writers Zach Williams, Vanessa Hua, and Kate Folk, and Cintia Santana—read and respond to each other's work in a summer exchange celebrating the dialogue between poetry and prose. Moderated by Litquake Artistic Director Graham Todd.

A screening of the 1955 sci-fi horror classic The Quatermass Experiment with a live introduction by Dr. H. Marshall Leicester, UC Santa Cruz Professor Emeritus of Literature. The film follows three British astronauts launched into space by obsessed scientist Professor Quatermass—but only one returns, fundamentally changed. Hosted by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Monster Studies.

Jon Ronson, bestselling author of *The Psychopath Test* and *So You've Been Publicly Shamed*, presents his latest book *The Castle*, a darkly comic investigation into the masculinity crisis. When his only child is mysteriously lured to a castle in New England's forests, Ronson embarks on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men searching for purpose and control. Drawing on his trademark blend of psychological insight and prescient humor, Ronson explores phenomena ranging from "Princessing" to the bizarre lives of lawn-care influencers and the troubling trajectory of recently released criminals. A one-man performance merging memoir, social commentary, and wit.

A screening of the 1955 sci-fi horror classic The Quatermass Xperiment with a live introduction by Dr. H. Marshall Leicester, UC Santa Cruz Professor Emeritus of Literature. The film follows a trio of British astronauts launched into space by obsessed rocket scientist Professor Quatermass—but only one returns to Earth, transformed. Part of the Festival of Monsters Public Days, presented by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Monster Studies.

The Audacity to Create showcases work by eight UC Santa Cruz BIPOC alumni: Alejandra Chavez, Jorge Gomez-González, Katie Dorame, Seráb Serabia, Aleya Caballero, Edward Ramirez, Josselyne Morales, and Marceline Valentine. The exhibition runs through December 5, with a reception on October 17 and an artist talk on November 7 at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery.

The UCSF Center for Malaria and Vector-Borne Diseases research symposium convenes Bay Area researchers, industry leaders, public health professionals, and funding partners to exchange ideas and celebrate scientific achievements in malaria and vector-borne disease control. Attendees will hear from leading researchers and early-stage investigators, learn about innovative approaches to disease elimination, and connect across academia, industry, public health, and philanthropy.

A hands-on workshop on using Claude Code for real-world development projects. Participants will work directly with Claude's coding capabilities in a collaborative, open session format designed for developers at all levels.

TiDB SCaiLE 2026 is a summit for engineers and leaders building data infrastructure for agentic AI systems. As AI agents proliferate and spawn thousands of instances with complex context branching, traditional multi-database architectures strain under operational overhead and reliability demands. This event explores how unified database platforms designed for agent behavior—rather than retrofitted from legacy systems—can handle vectors, transactions, and analytics in a single coherent infrastructure. Speakers include engineers from Atlassian, Affirm, Pinterest, Databricks, Alibaba, Braintrust, AWS, and other industry leaders actively solving agentic AI data challenges at scale.

Orkes Shift is a one-day conference for engineers, architects, and platform leads integrating AI agents into existing production systems. The event covers extending business processes with agentic capabilities without rebuilding, handling durability and explainability when non-deterministic AI components enter deterministic workflows, human-in-the-loop approvals and failure handling at scale, and customer stories from teams running traditional and agentic workflows side-by-side. Speakers and sessions focus on open-source Conductor, an orchestration engine created at Netflix and deployed at LinkedIn, Twilio, StoneX, and Bumble. October 15, 2026, San Francisco.

An interactive workshop exploring how contemplative practice—rooted in Buddhist teachings and the principle of not-self—cultivates empathy, discernment, and relational intelligence across the lifespan. Led by Kaira Jewel Lingo, a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage, the session examines how contemplative education nurtures 'imaginal cells' within ourselves and communities, fostering wise and compassionate citizenship. Drawing on examples like Deer Park Monastery's School of Interbeing, participants will explore practical approaches to integrating contemplative practices into educational and community settings. Part of the Contemplation By Design Summit at Stanford University.

How should we study Central Europe's histories of empire, occupation, war, dictatorship, and democratic transformation? Historian Norman Naimark joins Margarita Nafpaktitis (Curator for the Slavic and East European Collections at Stanford University Libraries) and Anatol Shmelev (Robert Conquest Curator for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia at the Hoover Institution) to discuss the state of the field, its archival sources, and its future directions. Drawing on decades of research and teaching, the speakers explore how scholarship on the region has evolved, introduce Stanford's remarkable archival collections, and consider how archives shape the histories we write—addressing migration, shifting borders, political memory, and the archive's role in preserving and omitting evidence.

Andrea Capra, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at NYU, discusses his book *Ordinary Horror: The Aesthetics of Deformation from Leopardi to Ferrante* (Stanford University Press). Capra investigates "ordinary horror"—the horror woven through everyday life and realistic literature, tied to experiences of forced powerlessness and rupture. Drawing on phenomenology and ordinary language philosophy, he traces this aesthetic across modern Italian literature, from Leopardi's existential suffering to Primo Levi's Auschwitz testimony to Elena Ferrante's depictions of violence. The talk explores how literature conveys horror's magnitude through formal deformation, moments when realistic texts abandon verisimilitude for disquieting style. Co-sponsored by the Philosophy + Literature initiative, SLE, and the Department of French and Italian.

Explore how technology collects and uses personal data in advertising, social media, credit scoring, and law enforcement. This workshop examines the boundary between convenience and surveillance, offering critical perspectives on data practices by Google, Meta, and other companies. Participants will discover what information these platforms hold about them and learn practical strategies for protecting privacy online and offline. Led by San Jose State University's Digital Humanities Center, the session combines information-sharing with interactive discussion, inviting attendees to ask questions and share perspectives on this urgent topic.

Vanessa Cruz Nichols, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, discusses her book project *Peril and Promise: Catalyzing Political Action Among Latinxs*. Rather than focusing solely on threat as a driver of political participation, Nichols examines how combined exposure to both threat and opportunity appeals shapes activism among Latinx communities. Drawing on political psychology and risk appraisal research, she argues that pairing fear-based and hope-based policy messages may more effectively motivate political action than either alone—a framework with implications for how communities of color respond to political cues.