Reception at the Skywalk Observatory, 26 August 2007
Admission for PREMUS participants is complimentary. One guest per participant may be included for a fee of $50.
The Skywalk Observatory is Boston and New England's tallest observatory, where one can gaze over the surrounding landscape. It offers a spectacular 360 degree view of the city and beyond. From this vantage point, you will see all of Boston's major sights, including the John Hancock building, the Boston Public Library, Fenway Park, the Christian Science Center, the Charles River, Trinity Church, and many of the parks that make up Boston's Emerald Necklace. The observatory also offers good views of Cambridge and the suburbs that surround Boston — and on a very clear day, you can even see the beaches of Cape Cod to the south, or mountains in New Hampshire to the north!
A Welcome Reception will be held at the Skywalk on Sunday, 26 August 2007 at 5:30 pm. Please join us for cocktails, hors d’ouvres, and music as we network with fellow PREMUS participants and enjoy breathtaking views of the Boston skyline.
The Skywalk is located on the 50th floor of the Prudential Building at 800 Boylston Street. The Prudential Building is connected to the Sheraton Boston Hotel via an indoor walkway.
Dinner Cruise on Boston Harbor, 29 August 2007
Aboard the Spirit of Boston
17:45–22:00
Fee for this event is $80 for PREMUS participants and includes transportation. Guests may be included for an additional fee of $80.
Savor your culinary selections over perfectly-paced dinner music and a never-ending view of Boston’s breathtaking skyline and harbor seen through the ship's huge panoramic windows.
While you relax over coffee and dessert, Spirit’s live performers will entertain you with song and dance on the center stage. After the show, take your drinks topside and relax on the largest outdoor patio deck in the city while Boston’s magnificent skyline spreads before you in all directions. Head back inside as the dance music brings you back onto the floor. PREMUS participants will have exclusive use of the two upper floors and decks of the boat. Make sure that you don’t miss the premier social event of PREMUS 2007!
To see the cruise route, click here. The cruise departs from the Seaport World Trade Center Marine Terminal in Boston. Cost of this ticket includes round trip bus transportation from the conference center to the terminal, and then back to the Sheraton Hotel. Free parking for local guests.
Tours, 30 August 2007 (afternoon)
PLEASE NOTE: Space may be limited for some tours. Tours will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
We will offer three optional concurrent tours on Thursday, 30 August 2007:
-
Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (13:00–18:00)
-
Unique Outing to Rainsford Island in Boston Harbor (13:00–18:00)
-
Lowell and the American Industrial Revolution: Work, Water Power, and Weaving (12:30–18:30)
The cost of each tour is $43 per person, which includes transportation, lunch and associated event fees; you may only choose one tour. Guests may be included for a fee of $43.
Tour Option 1: Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (limit 40 people)
The Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety is a fully-supported, independent research institute, dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge in the areas of workplace and highway injury prevention and mitigation, and return to work. From its humble beginnings 53 years ago, the Research Institute has evolved into an internationally recognized, award-winning enterprise with 25 researchers, 20 support staff members, and 11 fully functioning, state-of-the-art laboratories. Researchers conduct original investigations into job-related accidents, injuries, and disability, with the primary goal of contributing to scientific knowledge through publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The Institute has collaborative relationships with over a dozen leading international occupational safety and health institutions.
The Research Institute is organized into 5 Centers. The Center for Physical Ergonomics studies the causes and mechanisms of occupational injuries, with a focus on musculoskeletal disorders. The Center for Disability Research investigates worker disability and ways to achieve safe and sustained return-to-work. The Center for Injury Epidemiology conducts original epidemiological research into risk factors for occupational injury and studies the burden of workplace injury. The Center for Behavioral Sciences studies the impact of behavioral, cognitive, and organizational factors surrounding workplace injuries and highway collisions. Researchers from these Centers develop and implement research projects in the laboratories, dedicated to studying upper extremity disorders and repetitive work, transportation risks and behaviors, epidemiology, human/machine interface, biomechanics, tribology, manual materials handling, ergonomics, work systems design, and cognitive/behavioral issues at work.
The tour of the Institute will start with an introduction from one of the program directors, describing the Institute's history, research programs and extramural initiatives. A guide will escort groups of 10 people through the various laboratories, and researchers will be available to present current research and answer questions. The total length of the tour is between 90 minutes and 2 hours. Refreshments will be served.
Tour Option 2: Unique Outing to Rainsford Island in Boston Harbor (limit 35 people)
This will be a unique adventure for those who want to see the historic Boston Harbor Islands, yet avoid the tourist traps of the Boston waterfront. Rainsford Island does not have a dock, so we will be arriving via a landing craft equipped with a ramp.
Logistics
Departure from conference center by bus at 13:00 (1:00 pm)
Departure from dock by boat at 13:30 (1:30 pm)
Arrive Rainsford Island at 14:30 (2:30 pm)
Depart Rainsford Island at 17:00 (5:00 pm)
Arrive at the mainland dock at 18:00 (6:00 pm)
During the stay on Rainsford Island:
- Hiking
- Historic Tour (Ellen Berkland, City of Boston Archeologist)
- Picnic lunch (box lunches will be provided)
Description
The island is an 11 acre island, so it’s quite manageable for a walking/hiking tour. The boat may be handicap accessible, but certainly the island isn’t. We will orient people once on island, and give a brief land-use history of the place. The hike would take approximately 2 hours, but there would be time to enjoy a picnic on the beach and take a swim. The island has a cemetery, piggery, and extant remains associated with the quarantine hospital, school for bad boys, and the caretaker home. And there are a lot of associated features including root cellars, wells, walls, landscaping features etc.
The island is great for bird-watching, beachcombing, tide-pooling (if it’s low tide) and viewing the rest of the harbor islands.
Tour Option 3: Lowell and the American Industrial Revolution: Work, Water Power, and Weaving
Tsongas Industrial History Center, Lowell National Historical Park
Includes admission to the Boott Cotton Mills Museum and your choice of three concurrent workshops (see descriptions below):
Workshop Times and Topics
13:30-14:30 (1:30-2:30 pm) — Workers on the Line, Weave Room, and Water Room workshops
15:00-16:00 (3-4 pm) — Workers on the Line, Weave Room, and Water Room workshops
Workshop Descriptions
Workers on the Line Workshop
During the Industrial Revolution, workers began to mass-produce goods in factories. The new factory workplace fundamentally changed the nature of work and the relative power of workers and owners.
In this hands-on workshop, participants
- Take on the role of production workers on an assembly line
- Experience a loss of control as equipment is "speeded up" and they are “stretched out”
- Decide how to react when wages are cut
- Discuss options for improving the workplace
Weave Room Workshop
The shift from craft production in the home to industrial production in factories was a fundamental part of the Industrial Revolution. Although the principal steps in the process of making cloth (carding, spinning, and weaving) remained the same, the nature of the work and the role of the worker changed dramatically.
In this hands-on workshop, participants
- Weave cloth on hand looms
- Design mill floors incorporating technological changes
- Discover how mechanization transformed the weaving process and how changes in textile technology affected the role of the worker.
Water Power Workshop
Lowell’s founding depended upon the water power that could be supplied by harnessing the energy of the Pawtucket Falls. The changes created by the development of Lowell’s power canal system transformed a pre-industrial farm community into an industrial city.
In this hands-on workshop, participants
- Build and test water wheels and turbines
- Design, build, and operate a water-powered mill system
- Examine ways in which human activities have had and continue to have a dramatic impact upon the environment
The Boott Cotton Mills Museum includes a 1920s weave room with operating power looms, as well as interactive exhibits and video programs about the Industrial Revolution, labor, and the rise, fall, and rebirth of Lowell.
The Tsongas Industrial History Center is a collaborative project of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Graduate School of Education and the National Park Service at Lowell National Historical Park. The Center encourages the teaching of industrial history in a hands-on way through on- and off-site educational programs for 60,000 students and teachers annually.
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage. Lowell National Historical Park tells the story of America’s first planned industrial city and the Industrial Revolution. The Park includes historic cotton textile mills, 5.6 miles of canals, operating gatehouses, and worker housing.
Visit http://www.uml.edu/tsongas for information about the Tsongas Industrial History Center.
Visit http://www.nps.gov/lowe for information about Lowell National Historical Park.
Other Park Attractions (both fee-free):
Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center
You might choose to begin your visit at Market Mills, the former Lowell Manufacturing Company mill complex, one of the city’s original textile mills. Market Mills houses the National Park Visitor Center, where you can make reservations for tours (including seasonal boat tours), explore exhibits, visit the Children’s Corner, and view the award-winning multi-image video program, “Lowell: The Industrial Revelation” every half hour 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Also on view at 4:00 PM is “Lowell Blues,” a film by Henry Ferrini about author Jack Kerouac and his native city. (Due to special programs, times may vary occasionally). General information on area lodging, cultural institutions, and dining is also available. Also in Market Mills: the Visitor Center Bookstore, and the Brush Art Gallery and Studios.
Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit
Explore the history of “mill girls” and immigrants in a Boott Mill boardinghouse. The Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit, located in the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center, tells the human story of the Industrial Revolution by concentrating on the working people of Lowell.