The CUPUM 2015 conference organizers are pleased to offer seven pre-organized field trips for conference participants and their family members. Field trips depart from MIT after the close of the academic conference at 12:30 PM on Friday, 10 July; they end at 6:00PM at an MBTA subway stop. All field trip locations are near to the MBTA and participants may leave a trip early if necessary. Field trips are limited to 40 participants, except where noted. In addition, information on a wide variety of self-guided Boston-area tours will be available at the conference site.
Registrants may sign up for a field trip as part of the conference registration process; those who have already registered may revisit their registration to sign up for a trip. Please email conferences-www@mit.edu if you need assistance in signing up.
1. Rose Kennedy Greenway and Boston Planning Organizations
Get out of the conference room and into the city, as we stroll along the Rose Kennedy Greenway and visit officials at two Boston planning agencies. The 15-acre Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a new 1.5 mile linear park running atop Boston's Central Artery Tunnel (part of the infrastructure project known as the "Big Dig”). The park connects many of Boston's downtown neighborhoods—including the North End, Faneuil Hall, and Chinatown—and represents a living, evolving space to explore and showcase recent innovations in park design and public space activation. Along the way we'll also visit the Boston Redevelopment Authority and meet with planners from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency responsible for land use planning coordination for the 101 cities and towns in Greater Boston. The walking tour includes the temporary monumental sculpture by artist Janet Echelman, As If It Were Already Here, currently suspended in the airspace above the Greenway. And of course, there will be ice cream along the way!
Cost: $20 per person.
2. Rose Kennedy Greenway and MBTA Operations Center
Get out of the conference room and into the city, as we stroll along the Rose Kennedy Greenway and visit officials at Boston planning agencies. The 15-acre Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a new 1.5 mile linear park running atop Boston's Central Artery Tunnel (part of the infrastructure project known as the "Big Dig”). The park connects many of Boston's downtown neighborhoods—including the North End, Faneuil Hall, and Chinatown—and represents a living, evolving space to explore and showcase recent innovations in park design and public space activation. Along the way, this tour will visit the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Operations Control Center, which handles real-time management of Boston’s subway and bus system. The walking tour includes the temporary monumental sculpture by artist Janet Echelman, As If It Were Already Here, currently suspended in the airspace above the Greenway. And of course, there will be ice cream along the way!
Cost: $20 per person.
3. Boston Innovation District, Institute of Contemporary Art, and Harpoon Brewery
Although it was founded in 1630, the City of Boston continues to reinvent and remake itself with each new generation. In this walking tour, we'll explore one of the latest iterations of this process, the emerging Innovation District in the South Boston Seaport neighborhood. Stops will include the historic South Station (gateway to both old and new transit systems), the Institute for Contemporary Art (housed in a stunning new structure perched on the waterfront), and District Hall (a new civic space designed to encourage collaboration and the exchange of ideas). We'll end the afternoon with a visit to the Harpoon Brewery, an example of the American “microbrewery” movement with deep roots in Boston.
Cost: $30 per person (includes admission to the ICA and Harpoon Brewery)
Note: those needing to return to MIT/Kendall by 6pm may depart the trip before the brewery visit.
4. Harvard Square, Harvard Museum of Natural History, and Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology
Travel by public transit to Harvard Square to tour the historic Harvard Yard and visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the adjoining Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. We have arranged a special tour of the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants. These remarkable models—over 4,000—were created by Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf over a fifty-year period. The incredibly accurate glass models were made in Germany from 1887 to 1936. for Harvard's Botanical Museum to help with the teaching of botany. You will also be free to tour the rest of both museums, including exhibits of mammals and birds, minerals and gems, and in the Peabody Museum, archaeology and ethnology. The glass flower tour is approximately one hour.
Cost: $25 (includes admission to the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology).
5. Mary Baker Eddy Library Mapparium, Boston Skywalk and Newbury Street
After a short bus ride across the Charles River into Boston, we will visit the Mary Baker Eddy library and walk through the stained-glass globe of the world known as the Mapparium, and enjoy their multimedia presentation on the global spread of ideas. Then, weather permitting, we will walk along Christian Science Plaza's reflecting pool to Prudential Tower to enjoy a 360-degree view of Boston from the 50th-floor Prudential Skywalk observatory and the "Dreams of Freedom" exhibit on the immigrant experience in Boston. The tour will conclude on Boston's Newbury Street where visitors may explore its many shops and restaurants. Visitors may also wish to walk the few blocks to Copley Square and explore the Boston Public Library and historic Trinity Church.
Cost: $25 (includes admission to the Mapparium and Skywalk Observatory)
Signing Up for a Field Trip
Registrants could sign up for a field trip as part of the conference registration process; those who have already registered could revisit their registration to sign up for a trip. Now that the conference is about to start, online registration is closed but you can register for the conference and for field trips at the registration desk during the Tuesday evening reception or, beginning Wednesday, July 8, next to the conference presentation rooms on the first floor of the Stata Center (building 32). Please email conferences-www@mit.edu if you have other questions.
Because of the timing, each registrant should sign up for one trip only. Please note however that many of the destinations on these tours are open to the public and may be visited on one's own, outside of the tours. See below for the list.
Self-Guided Tour information
Many of the stops on the tours, as well as dozens of other attractions in Boston, are open to the public and easily accessible by public transportation. Additional information about attractions is available from the Greater Boston Convention and Visitor's Bureau.
Field Trip Destinations Open to the Public (You may visit these on your own if you are attending a different tour on Friday afternoon)
Rose Kennedy Greenway (with temporary public sculpture As If It Were Already Here)
Institute for Contemporary Art
Harvard Museum of Natural History (including the "Glass Flowers": Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants)
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate