Education & Technology

\-\-\-\-\-\- [REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE (ON LUMA)!](https://luma.com/buwatm7e) \-\-\-\-\-\- Join us for an evening of collaborative problem-solving as we work on a variety of civic tech projects together. Project needs vary but often include brainstorming, researching, writing, coding, or analyzing data. Check out [our website](https://www.civictechdc.org/projects) for a list of projects which may make an appearance! Meet other civic tech enthusiasts. Learn new skills. Contribute to a project to improve a local civic issue. **All are welcome and collaboration is encouraged.** Laptops are recommended but not required. **Where do I register?** To better serve our growing community, we’re transitioning our event registrations to Luma! **We still love Meetup** Meetup has been an incredible platform for us to build and connect with our community. We’ll continue sharing upcoming events there so that new people can find us, but Luma will be our primary registration platform moving forward. **Why we're making the switch** Meetup’s registration system has some limitations, and we need more flexibility to manage sign-ups and engagement. \-\-\-\-\-\- [REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE (ON LUMA)!](https://luma.com/buwatm7e) \-\-\-\-\-\-

A **"Show and Tell"** event! Due to popular demand, am hosting another 'Show and Tell' event instead of a happy hour. It will be a low key event. Everyone can introduce themselves and delve into showcasing portfolios. We can then discuss about the portfolio itself and later delve into the new and exciting aspects in the field of UX. Encourage you to participate in shared experiences in the field. **New venue:** Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library **Meeting room: 302-E Meeting Room** **Time updated: 6:00 PM** Don't miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge and network with like-minded individuals passionate about User Experience and Technology. See you soon! Note: If you can do bring your own laptop to showcase your portfolio, thanks

Come learn how money really works. We’ll cover how to grow it, protect it, get out of debt, and use smart retirement and infinite banking strategies to build long-term security.

We've noticed an uptick in the community seeking advice on navigating the current job market (no shocker here) and wanted to create an in person space for folks to dive in. Whether you have questions or believe you have knowledge that would be helpful to the collective, we'd love for you to join this event. To help make moderation easier, **post your questions here**: https://forms.gle/Nw3UKrtPj5U4Ln53A **Event schedule:** * 6 - 6:30PM: Socialize, get food * 6:30: Boomie will give a short talk on her job search advice and then open it up for discussion and Q&A * 7:45: Begin to wrap up to allow us to be out of the space promptly by 8PM

**Happy New Year, GeoDC! We’re kicking off 2026 on Wednesday, January 14th, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Sudhouse DC (1340 U St NW).** **The program begins at 7:00 PM, but you’ll want to arrive early—our sponsor for the evening, Earth Genome, is providing limited appetizers and drinks for the community! Sudhouse also runs its regular happy hour until 8:00 PM. Please RSVP on the GeoDC Meetup page to help us coordinate the catering.** **This Month's Sponsor: Earth Genome** **A huge thank you to Earth Genome for making this month possible. Earth Genome is a nonprofit at the intersection of AI and environmental data, building the tools needed to monitor our planet’s health in real-time. We are excited to have their team on the ground to show us exactly how they are turning satellite pixels into climate action.** **Speaker Lineup** **Ben Strong, Earth Genome Talk: Earth Index and the New Frontier of GenAI Mikel will lead a live demo of the Earth Index platform, a "search engine for the planet" that uses geospatial foundation models to find environmental patterns globally. He’ll also be giving us a first look at some very beta GenAI features that allow users to query the planet using natural language.** **Dan McCarey, Earth Genome Talk: Visualizing the Invisible: Building Climate TRACE Plumes Dan will walk us through the build process of the Climate TRACE plumes visualization. This tool maps the real-time flow of air pollution from over 9,000 industrial sources into urban areas. He’ll discuss the technical architecture behind the project—combining atmospheric modeling with facility-level emissions data—and how it serves as a call to action for environmental justice.** **We’ll have our usual rapid-fire community updates before the demos. If you're hiring or looking for work in the DMV geospatial scene, this is your chance to grab the mic!** **See you all next Wednesday!** **The GeoDC Organizing Committee** **Chad, Tom, Dan, Puneet**

World Learning Toastmasters Club meetings are held every 2nd and 4th Wednesday from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. We are a fun loving group of professionals looking to develop our public speaking and leadership skills. Take a break from your work and come join us for a fun afternoon. All guests are welcome! Closest Metro station: Either McPherson Square (white house exit) or Farragut North. For more information about the club, please visit http://worldlearningtoastmasters.toastmastersclubs.org/

Ready to speak with confidence and lead with impact? Join **Silver Spring Toastmasters at White Oak Library**—where voices grow stronger, leaders are made, and personal growth takes center stage! Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a seasoned professional, you’ll find a welcoming community that celebrates progress and purpose. **Visit our next meeting and start your transformation today!**

Step away from the constant buzz of notifications and into a space of stillness, clarity, and inner connection. In this immersive, in-person session, you’ll explore the spiritual art of digital detox—reclaiming your attention, deepening presence, and nurturing your soul’s well-being. Through guided meditation, mindful reflection, and interactive group activities, you’ll learn how to create healthy boundaries with technology and rediscover the simple joys of being fully present. Leave feeling lighter, recharged, and inspired to live with intention—online and offline. Saturday, Jan. 17th 1:00pm – 2:30pm. Held at the Meditation Museum, 9525 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD. Free Event.

• What we'll do On https://blackecon101.podbean.com/ Thursdays at 6 pm. discussing the economy....

Title: On Quantizing General Relativity Date: Jan 17 2026 Noon -14:00 EST Summary: Why has a century passed without anyone developing a persuasive, broadly accepted, and experimentally predictive unified theory of quantum mechanics and general relativity? In this presentation, Terry will begin by explaining how Einstein’s post-1911 adoption of the Minkowski concept of an infinitely smooth spacetime fabric destroyed any possibility of such a merger by making spacetime infinitely classical, and thus inherently incompatible with the quantum reality of all forms of matter and energy. Next, Terry will discuss how the concept of infinitely smooth spacetime, in combination with similarly cost-indifferent field theories, wasted a century of theorizing by loading empty space with non-existent, asymptotically infinitely energies that exist only briefly in very-high-energy physics. Finally, Terry will discuss how recognizing that quantum observation is nothing more than acceleration. Terry reframes general relativity as the remnant of relationships remaining after massive observation creates localized instances of spacetime. Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS, and professional degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

DC Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. It's community-led and community-run by devs, for devs. People of all skill levels attend. Whether you’re dev-curious, aspiring, or a professional developer, we’d love to have you! Come chat or learn to code on a Sunday afternoon with coffee and cool-inclusive people. Bring your laptop! We typically meet every month on the weekend. **Join our online community!** For all things Tech in DC and to get latest updates and tech events from the DMV area, join the [DCTech Slack](https://dctech.chat/). All DC Code & Coffee announcements are in the #dccodecoffee channel **How it works** Near the beginning of the event, we do an introduction circle. You say your name, what you can help others with, and what you would like help with. You can also share job opportunities. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized. **Event Host and Directions** TEMPORARY LOCATION! We'll be meeting at West End Library for January.

First officer Ian will be leading us in some fun board games.

Join us for an evening of cutting-edge discussion at the intersection of **AI and Python**, featuring lightning talks from leading practitioners who are building the future of intelligent systems and developer tooling. **REGISTER at the Py AI event page on Luma: https://luma.com/w08cv6px​​** **Schedule** * ​​5PM - 5:30PM: Pizza & Drinks * ​​5:30PM - 6:30PM: Talks from our speakers * ​Jeremiah Lowin - Founder & CEO, Prefect * ​Roni Kobrosly - Director of Data Science, Capital One * ​Adam Azzam - FastMCP * ​Banjo Obayomi - Sr. Solutions Architect GenAI, AWS * ​...and more! * ​​6:30PM - 8:00PM: Networking & Social Hour ​​Following the talks, stay for open discussion and networking with fellow Python and AI engineers. Whether you’re building AI-driven applications, exploring new frameworks, or working on developer productivity tools, this meetup offers practical insight from the teams defining the modern AI ecosystem. **REGISTER at the Py AI event page on Luma: https://luma.com/w08cv6px​​**

Room 401-F. A game development **Working Session** involves 3 key parts: 1. Tell people what you're going to do 2. Actually do stuff 3. Show people what you did **What to bring**: Laptop, Charger, maybe a power strip if you have one handy, any other game development tools you need. Try to download any software you need before the working session. There is Wifi at this location, but it may be slow if you have to download any large files.

NOVA Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal, co-working session. People of all skill levels are invited. The concept is simple, bring a laptop and ideas, we'll provide the coffee and donuts! Here's how it works: 1. At 10:15 everyone introduces themselves and briefly describes what brought them to Code & Coffee today (project, homework, networking, etc) 2. For the rest of the day, folks work in the communal space on their projects providing one another help and conversation as needed. Oh and they usually drink coffee and tea too! That's it! Hope to see you there! **Location** Our hosts are the Fairfax City Economic Development Building: [10300 Eaton Pl, Fairfax, VA 22030](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=d7298231ca2df594df822003f9a93517c788fceefe1fcbb79c8976696e341bc6JmltdHM9MTc1MzIyODgwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=180d0745-3b7f-69a1-23a2-11433a7868e5&u=a1L21hcHM_Jm1lcGk9MTA5fn5Ub3BPZlBhZ2V-QWRkcmVzc19MaW5rJnR5PTE4JnE9RmFpcmZheCUyMENpdHklMjBFY29ub21pYyUyMERldmVsb3BtZW50JnNzPXlwaWQuWU44NzN4ODI4MTk2Mjg0NTk5MDM4MTU0MiZwcG9pcz0zOC44NjE0NDYzODA2MTUyMzRfLTc3LjMwMjE3NzQyOTE5OTIyX0ZhaXJmYXglMjBDaXR5JTIwRWNvbm9taWMlMjBEZXZlbG9wbWVudF9ZTjg3M3g4MjgxOTYyODQ1OTkwMzgxNTQyfiZjcD0zOC44NjE0NDZ-LTc3LjMwMjE3NyZ2PTImc1Y9MSZGT1JNPU1QU1JQTA&ntb=1) Conference Room A- Large, Floor 1 This is a new venue for us, so give us some time to get more details about it. Driving is the best option. There is plenty of free on-site parking. Otherwise, we are a 22 minute bus from the Vienna Metro Station. **Sponsored by:** Thank you [Fairfax City Economic Development](https://gofairfaxcity.com/) and [Mason Enterprise Center](https://enterprise.gmu.edu/) for making this event possible! **Thank you so much to our wonderful sponsors!** Organized by [DMV Petri Dish](https://www.dmvpetridish.com/) **[Code of Conduct](https://github.com/NoVACodeCoffee/admin/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md):** We value the participation of each member of the community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. To make clear what is expected, all delegates/attendees, organizers, and volunteers at any Nova Code & Coffee events are required to conform to our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/NoVACodeCoffee/admin/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md).

Dulles Code & Coffee is a collaborative community of software and technology enthusiasts seeking to learn, grow, and help each other. All skill levels are welcome. The concept is simple. Bring a laptop and ideas. We’ll provide coffee, tea, and donuts. Thank you to [BTI360](https://www.bti360.com/) for sponsoring this event. ## **Event Format** 1. At 9:15 everyone introduces themselves and briefly describes what brought them out this morning (project, homework, networking, etc.). 2. For the rest of the day folks work in the communal space, socializing and asking/giving help as desired. ## **Location** BTI360’s Office in Herndon The office is across from Worldgate, looking down on the toll road. ## **Address** 12930 Worldgate Dr, Ste 400, Herndon, VA 20170 [[map](https://goo.gl/maps/pF5ZrPUviX1vtmdSA)] ## **Logistics** * **Must be a U.S. Citizen to attend. Real ID verification is required.** * PARKING: Use the surface lot. All spaces marked MIII are open for parking. Please avoid Management spaces, State Farm and SP+ * ARRIVAL: Follow the signs from the front entrance to the freight elevator located in the parking garage on level P2. Take the elevator to Suite 400 (Floor 4). * How to find us video: [https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE](https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE) ## **Community Guidelines** We value the participation of each member of the community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. To ensure a conducive environment, all participants are required to conform to our [code of conduct](https://github.com/DullesCodeCoffee/.github/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md).

**Curious to learn more about the club *where world-class speakers meet*?** Then join us for one of our upcoming meetings! **[Talking Heads Of State](https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00707433-talking-heads-of-state-club)**[ (aka "THOS")](https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00707433-talking-heads-of-state-club) is an open club that *meets biweekly from 12-1PM EST on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month via Zoom*. **Can't join us for a meeting just yet, but want to learn more anyway?** Then visit **[our club website](https://talkingheadsofstate.toastmastersclubs.org/)** to learn more about us, and all the **[#THOSome](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7381652994032857088?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAB3XVR0BskgFCcmOyGsI2q61Z85SsTBH5P8)** ways that our club members **[#SpeakUp](https://talkingheadsofstate.toastmastersclubs.org/speak-up.html)** in the world! We hope to see you soon!

Gaming, AdTech, EdTech, Media Streaming, and FinTech are just a few of the workloads where high-availability cloud infrastructure matters. Whether you’re doing battle daily in one of these spaces or are just curious about ways to improve performance, meet us in Reston for an in-person discussion on bare metal cloud architecture. You’ll meet our product lead, James MacKenzie, who will walk through how modern bare metal serves as a control plane for hybrid and private cloud architectures. **What we will cover** * Ways to leverage bare metal, containers, and orchestration for better performance and predictable economics; * Real-world hybrid, disaster recovery, and data-intensive architectures; * Our approach to eliminating ingress and egress fees. **Who should attend** * Cloud architects and platform engineers; * DevOps professionals and infrastructure leads; * FinOps stakeholders managing data-heavy or hybrid workloads. **Why attend** This is a technical, architecture-first conversation. You will leave with a clearer understanding of high-availability cloud infrastructure and how organizations are scaling cost-effectively. Food and drinks will be provided. Space is limited to keep the discussion interactive.

We will be meeting at Starbucks to learn together. Come with an online class you're already going through or an interest and we will try to connect you with a course where you can learn it. Already have a skill you want to contribute to a Kaggle Datascience competition? We will work on these too! Laptop required :)

**PLEASE REGISTER ON THE [LUMA PAGE](https://luma.com/92fskwbl) (only this registration will be valid)​** Ukrainian Tech Space DC MD VA and Projector Global Community are very excited to invite you to the panel discussion “Education in the age of AI” held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on January 24th at 3:30 pm ​Our panelists: ​[Nina Borysova](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nborysova/) uses AI-powered tech in financial data analysis in her role as Director of Product at Mastercard and occasionally asks ChatGPT to help redesign her house in her free time. Her domain, among many others, is obtaining technical knowledge without the traditional IT background. ​[Mike Rybachuk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-rybachuk/) co-founded Projector - the biggest creative and tech educational institution in Ukraine - and is passionate about building professional education that really adds value and supports Ukraine’s strive to rebuild after the devastation of a long war. ​[Andrew Tsintsiruk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tsintsiruk/) is a seasoned product development executive that brings vast experience of building AI-powered products to this panel. His background as an AI startup founder and broad educational reach with focus on IT and data science adds a blended perspective on the importance of both traditional and self-starter learning efforts, especially as AI continues to enrich the ways we consume new information. ​ Join our discussion, and we promise that you’ll walk away with new knowledge on how AI is disrupting education and get a better understanding of what to focus on in your professional development. ​Moderated by [Maksym Tereshchenko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxter/), CEO at Mantis Analytics. ​ Join the discussion to dive into practical challenges, share hands-on experience, and exchange ideas you can start applying right away. Please add the questions you’d like us to bring into the panel discussion. See you!