Friday December 23, 2022 Vincent Dixon - Holiday Music and Musical Stories

On Friday, December 23rd, historian and writer Vincent Dixon will add a historian’s perspective and music to our Christmas preparations with Holiday Music and Musical Stories – (A Narrated and Sung Program). Holiday songs derived from technology, policy and national security issues (Do you Hear What I Hear, for example) are as timely today as when they first appeared and represent a poignant and meaningful end of the year event for us.

Vincent Lawrence “Vince” Dixon, is a known Historian, especially focused on presentations including Colonial History; Current Events, and their Relationship to History; Church-State Relationships, and their Evolution, and Relationship with Civic Society; Parks, and Landscape History; and has taught, and tutored, as well. He has done work in curriculum development, and is a frequently published columnist, and speaker; and responds to custom requests. MASS PRESENTATIONS (a dba brand, of Dixon’s) develops a wide variety of presentations, media presentations, curriculum, and published materials, across a wide variety of audiences, and subject matter. Dixon has made presentations to the Winchester Historical Society: Religious Realities of Winchester: Houses of Worship & Communities of Faith; Schools of Winchester & Their Namesakes (including an exploration of The Lincolns of Massachusetts); Sports History of Winchester (A Virtual Event – by Zoom); and conducted Town Day Trolley Guided Tours. Interestingly, Vince was home schooled K-12, received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, cum laude, at the Harvard University Extension School and a Master of Education Degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He studied with Dr. Thomas H. O’Connor, University Historian of Boston College, the long-time Dean of Boston Historians.

Friday, December 9, 2022 Michael Cima: Intersection of Medicine and Materials

At this meeting, Professor Michael Cima will speak about The Intersection of Medicine and Materials. He will discuss his journey from materials science and engineering to medicine through a series of technologies originating in his lab. For the most part, this is a reflection on where these ideas came from. There are three key themes; pivot, adjacency, and theory of change. Topics will include 1) the role of materials in pharmaceutical development, 2) magnetics in diagnostics, 3) single compartment drug targeting, and 4) hydration status measurement.

Dr. Michael J. Cima is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an appointment at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Professor Cima joined the MIT faculty in 1986 and has received numerous awards. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and to the National Academy of Inventors in 2016. He now holds the David H. Koch Chair of Engineering at MIT. He was appointed faculty director of the Lemelson-MIT Program in 2009 which is a program to inspire youth to be inventive and has a nationwide reach. He was appointed Associate Dean of Engineering in 2018 and co-director of the MIT Innovation Initiative. Prof. Cima is author or co-author of over three hundred peer reviewed scientific publications, ninety US patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of medical devices and materials processing. Prof. Cima has been very active in the translation of new technologies into the clinic, including a new therapy for bladder cancer.

Friday, November 24th, 2022 - NO MEETING

 No meeting - it's Thanksgiving!

Wednesday November 9th, 2022 Kerry Emanuel and Richard Lindzen in A Conversation on Climate Change

At this Conversation on Climate Change, Professors Kerry Emanuel and Richard Lindzen of MIT’s Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department (EAPS) will join us. Kerry and Dick both spoke about climate change issues at Forum meetings last season. Their views differ. These two distinguished experts return to join us in a moderated conversation on climate change. With all the information (and misinformation) regarding climate issues in the popular press and political discourse, this is a rare opportunity for us to ask our questions and to develop a basis for understand the reality.

Friday October 28th, Emil Jacob: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Emil Jacobs, President of WindRays Energy of the Greentown Labs in Somerville will meet with us to speak about Vertical Axis Wind Turbine technology. WindRays Energy is developing a new design that addresses the main challenges facing the wind energy market by capturing the advantages of vertical axis windmills and merging with solar energy. The WindRays model enables implementation in densely populated areas, lowering visual impact, noise, harm to birds and providing other benefits not available in the market today. A number of break-through designs address the shortcomings of vertical axis windmills, such as structural stability and limited energy capture resulting in a model that is scalable and significantly more effective than conventional, horizontal axis windmills. Additionally, the incorporation of solar disks makes possible a total energy relative to cost more effective than conventional windmills.

Emil is a design innovator who has focused on developing solutions that improve the human condition and restore the planet profitably. He grew up in a small town in Romania in the 70s and 80s with a strong passion for design innovations that address the most pressing problems related to climate change and human health and well-being in ways that are profitable and market driven. He earned a B.A. in Economics, Minor in English Literature at the University of Toronto and a Masters in Design for Human Health from Boston Architectural College.

The following links provide perspective on WindRays technology:

• https://www.civilengineering-digital.com/civilengineering-alt/january_2019-alt/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1457388#articleId1457388
• https://climate.mit.edu/posts/climate-colab-winners-spotlight-colab-spotlight-emil-jacob-alex-sludds-timothy-robertson

Friday October 14th, 2022 Electric Vehicles, Part 1

Electric Vehicles

This meeting is in two parts: on October 14th John Brown, Walter Hubbard, Hugh Wright, Bob Muise will have some comments on their Electric Vehicle Experience and then field questions from our crew. On the following morning, 15 October at 10:30 am, we will continue with a Show and Tell in the Jenks Parking Lot, so that you might have a hands-on look at some EV s and PHEVs. Earlier this Fall, Jeff Hecht spoke with us about autonomous vehicles and spoke about the vision of urban environmentalists who see a path to a future of all-electric zero-emission cars, some of which may be self-driving. While public acceptance of self-driving cars remains unclear, public acceptance of electric vehicles is growing. This session is intended to give us an opportunity to hear from people from our crew who have experience with EVs.

Walter has suggested that the following links may be of interest to our members:

• Why Hybrid Vehicles Are a Smart Choice Right Now (msn.com)
• EVs and Plug-In Hybrids That Qualify for Tax Credits - Consumer Reports
• Alternative Fuels Data Center: Electric Vehicles with Final Assembly in North America (energy.gov)

---------------

Additional resources:

PHEV information:  (Bob)

PHEV information: (Hugh)

Links from Walter:
Life cycle carbon emissions: https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths#Myth5
Electric Grid: ISO New England (iso-ne.com)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Lithium recycling
Solving EV's Biggest Problem - Battery Recycling Explained - YouTube
How Tesla’s Battery Mastermind Is Tackling EV's Biggest Problem - YouTube

Environmental concerns
Are Electric Cars Worse For The Environment? Myth Busted - YouTube

Friday, September 23, 2022 Dennis Whyte on Recent Advances in Fusion Energy

At this meeting, Professor Dennis Whyte will describe Recent Advances in Fusion Energy including the development of new high magnetic field superconductor magnets and the launch of the SPARC fusion project outside Boston, whose goal is to demonstrate the viability of fusion this decade. The challenges to developing and deploying economic fusion will be highlighted.

Dennis G. Whyte is the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A recognized leader in fusion research, especially in the magnetic confinement of plasmas, Whyte has paved an innovative and faster path to producing fusion energy. He leads the fusion project, SPARC — a compact, high-field, net fusion energy fusion device — in collaboration with private fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). The core of the SPARC project was formed over eight years ago during a design course led by Whyte to challenge assumptions in fusion. Many of the ideas underpinning the high-field approach — including the use of HTS for high-field, demountable magnets, liquid blankets, and ARC (a fusion power plant concept) — have been conceived of or significantly advanced in his design courses. Whyte has over 350 publications, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has served on panels for the National Academies, the United States government, and the Royal Society. In 2018 Whyte received The Fusion Power Associates (FPA) Board of Directors Leadership Award which is given annually to individuals who have shown outstanding leadership qualities in accelerating the development of fusion. Whyte earned a BS from the University of Saskatchewan, and an MS and PhD from Université du Québec.

Friday September 9th, 2022 - Jeff Hecht - Self Driving Cars

Jeff Hecht will speak on "Challenges of Self-Driving Cars, or it seemed like a good idea at the time," and it is a deliberately tongue in cheek title. The current wave of interest grew from DARPA challenges in the 2000s, and early successes stimulated interest from both startups and the rather beleaguered auto companies. The early demonstrations by Google's Waymo division and others showed that cars equipped with sensors and artificial intelligence software could drive themselves on clear, well-marked and well-maintained roads. Two visions emerged: self-driving robo-taxies by the likes of Waymo, Uber, and Ford, and high-tech electric cars for affluent suburbanites by Tesla and others. Urban environmentalists saw a path to a future of all-electric zero-emission cars. The past few years have shown it wasn't as easy as it looked. Teslas and Ubers caused fatal accidents and crashed into stopped fire trucks with lights flashing. Worries about safety grew, as did questions about what kind of environments were needed. How well could robo-cars drive in heavy rain or on icy roads? How well can they drive on busy city streets shared with cyclists, pedestrians, and delivery trucks? So far, we're learning that the best place for self-driving cars may be modern, well-marked divided highways -- but maybe not with motorcycles. And public acceptance remains unclear.

Jeff Hecht writes about science and technology for magazines including New Scientist, IEEE Spectrum, Laser Focus World, Optics & Technology News, Photonics Focus, and Nature. He also has written books including City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics, and Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon. His interest in autonomous cars started with their use of laser radars for mapping the world around them, but he now follows the development of the technology and its limits.

Friday June 24th, 2022 Jacopo Buongiorno - follow up discussion

At this meeting, MIT Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering Jacopo Buongiorno returns to meet with the Forum, this time to field questions associated with Nuclear Waste Management. Professor Buongiorno has met with us on two previous occasions to speak about Nuclear Batteries on December 10th and on February 11th to field questions that evolved from our members. On this occasion the Q&A will focus on the management of nuclear waste. . For reference, please review the list of questions that had been assembled and, particularly, direct your attention to the Section IV of this file.

Friday June 10th, 2022 Yet-Ming Chiang - Batteries and Renewable Energy

MIT Professor Yet-Ming Chiang will speak about Storage to Enable a 100% Renewable Electric Grid. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is a key pathway to mitigation of climate change. Remarkable innovations in and scaled production of Li-ion battery technology over the past two decades could allow hour-to-hour and day-to-night variability in wind and solar generation to be largely accommodated. However, multi-day lulls in renewable generation currently challenge the electric grid’s ability to provide firm (dispatchable and always-available) power. Affordable and reliable long-duration storage is needed. In order to effectively compete on a cost basis with natural gas generation, system-level storage costs will need to be $20 per kilowatt hour or less. This talk will compare performance requirements for long- and short-duration storage applications, including where trades unacceptable at short-durations may be relaxed for long-duration batteries. Consideration of these criteria, alongside the equally important requirement of materials availability and manufacturing scalability that may need to reach installed storage capacity of ~100 TWh worldwide by midcentury, narrows the technological options. Of these, the rechargeable iron-air battery emerges as a promising option, for reasons that will be elaborated in the talk.

Yet-Ming Chiang is the Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, where his research focuses on clean energy technologies including non-aqueous and aqueous batteries for transportation and grid-scale storage, and electrochemical production of construction materials. He has brought several laboratory discoveries to commercial implementation, including the development of high-power lithium iron phosphate batteries, a semi-solid electrode approach to low-cost lithium-ion battery manufacturing, and batteries for long-duration grid storage. He has published about 300 scientific articles and holds about 100 issued U.S. patents, of which more than 70 have been licensed to or are held by practicing companies. Chiang is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Materials Research Society, the American Ceramic Society, and the National Academy of Inventors. His work in energy has been recognized by the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award (2016), the Economist’s Innovation Award (Energy and Environment Category, 2012), The Electrochemical Society Battery Division’s Battery Technology Award (2012), and an R&D 100 Editor’s Choice Award (2006). Chiang has co-founded several companies based on research from his MIT laboratory including American Superconductor Corporation (1987), A123 Systems (2001), 24M Technologies (2010), Desktop Metal (2015), Form Energy (2017), and Sublime Systems (2020). He was co-director of the MIT Future of Energy Storage study (2022) and leads the newly inaugurated Center for Electrification and Decarbonization of Industry at MIT.

Friday May 27th, 2022 - Vince Dixon - Memorial Day

As we approach Memorial Day, historian Vincent Dixon leads a discussion of Personal Recollections on Memorial Day – And Memorials of Service. Memorial Day, came into being, in the aftermath of the stunning slaughter of the American Civil War. In New England, oftentimes, the last major statue, and/or memorial to the casualties of a War, are to those of the Civil War. Once more generally called The War of Rebellion, many themes, drawn from its memorials, have come to be focused, more particularly, on those who gave their lives in combat, and/or in service to The United States. This is distinct from Veterans Day, originally called Armistice Day relating to World War I, which is more generally intended to honor all who have served the nation; and to remember, and serve, those who have survived the struggles of military service, and actual combat. Over time, a range of memorials, have been authorized, and built. Interestingly, in recent decades, in reverse order, have been remembrances, and monuments, to the Vietnam Conflict, the Korean War (often called The Forgotten War); and World War II.

A small number of slides, will begin this presentation; then inviting personal recollections, by all of the participants, about their own experiences, and/or those of family members, as we explore the meanings of societal engagement, service, and respect.

Vincent Lawrence “Vince” Dixon spoke with us earlier this month about the history of vaccinations. He is a known Historian, especially focused on presentations including Colonial History; Current Events, and their Relationship to History; Church-State Relationships, and their Evolution, and Relationship with Civic Society; Parks, and Landscape History; and has taught, and tutored, as well. He has done work in curriculum development, and is a frequently published columnist, and speaker; and responds to custom requests. MASS PRESENTATIONS (a dba brand, of Dixon’s) develops a wide variety of presentations, media presentations, curriculum, and published materials, across a wide variety of audiences, and subject matter. Dixon has made presentations to the Winchester Historical Society: Religious Realities of Winchester: Houses of Worship & Communities of Faith; Schools of Winchester & Their Namesakes (including an exploration of The Lincolns of Massachusetts); Sports History of Winchester (A Virtual Event – by Zoom); and conducted Town Day Trolley Guided Tours. Interestingly, Vince was home schooled K-12, received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, cum laude, at the Harvard University Extension School and a Master of Education Degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He studied with Dr. Thomas H. O’Connor (1922-2012); University Historian of Boston College; long-time Dean, of Boston Historians.

  

Friday May 13th, 2022 Vincent Lawrence Dixon - History of Vaccination and Immunization

In this session, historian and writer Vincent Dixon discusses The History of Vaccination, and Immunization. Knowledge of viruses, and their symptoms, is important to human survival, and civilization; and the treatment, and prevention of viruses. Over the centuries, the knowledge of these aspects has grown; our present circumstances reflect significant history, and research knowledge. There are many aspects that are of interest, ranging from knowledge, and research itself; through public education, public policy, and interactions between these concepts, and individual daily lives. Many aspects include reference to research discoveries, development of vaccine manufacture, and distribution of effective vaccines, across wide geographical, and societal ranges. Boston, and its twin city neighbor, Cambridge, have had a central role in these historical developments, and the life-saving deployment of vaccination processes. In addition, world-wide vaccination programs such as those engaged in by the World Health Organization (WHO), CEPI, GAVI, COVAX, and others, are important. Public Health Education, and Public Policy, intersecting with sufficient financial resources, are vital.

Vincent Lawrence “Vince” Dixon, is a known Historian, especially focused on presentations including Colonial History; Current Events, and their Relationship to History; Church-State Relationships, and their Evolution, and Relationship with Civic Society; Parks, and Landscape History; and has taught, and tutored, as well. He has done work in curriculum development, and is a frequently published columnist, and speaker; and responds to custom requests. MASS PRESENTATIONS (a dba brand, of Dixon’s) develops a wide variety of presentations, media presentations, curriculum, and published materials, across a wide variety of audiences, and subject matter. Dixon has made presentations to the Winchester Historical Society: Religious Realities of Winchester: Houses of Worship & Communities of Faith; Schools of Winchester & Their Namesakes (including an exploration of The Lincolns of Massachusetts); Sports History of Winchester (A Virtual Event – by Zoom); and conducted Town Day Trolley Guided Tours. Interestingly, Vince was home schooled K-12, received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, cum laude, at the Harvard University Extension School and a Master of Education Degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He studied with Dr. Thomas H. O’Connor, University Historian of Boston College, the long-time Dean of Boston Historians.

Friday April 22, 2022 Bob Deering - Nuclear Power: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

Winchester resident, Bob Deering, will speak about Nuclear Power: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Nuclear power has come a long way in the past 50 years. With the concern about climate change, nuclear power became a viable alternative to the use of fossil fuels. The same issues that nuclear power faced 50 years ago still exist today. They are location, safety, public acceptance and nuclear waste. With the proposed nuclear battery, the same concerns still exist in addition to the question of how, or if, such units would be connected to the electrical grid.

Bob is the son of electrician. He earned a degree in power distribution as well as a BS degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA. After graduation he was employed by Stone and Webster Engineering. In the 25 years with Stone and Webster he was involved with the engineering and design of 6 nuclear power plants spending 18 months in the field office with 2 other engineers providing engineering support to the construction forces at the Surry -2 reactor nuclear project. As the demand for nuclear power faded he changed professions and became a Director of Facilities for major hospitals in the Boston area. Bob Deering is the 2017 Winchester Chamber of Commerce 2017 Citizen of the Year and known for his work with the Winchester Public School construction projects.

April 8th, 2022 Friday - Richard Lindzen - Climate Change

In this presentation, Richard Lindzen, Professor (Emeritus) of Meteorology in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at MIT will speak about climate change. Dick is not skeptical about greenhouse warming per se, but he considers the contribution of CO2 to greenhouse warming to be small. Also, there are other contributors to climate that are much more significant. In his view, in promoting any issue, it is important (in a propagandistic sense) to establish ones preferred narrative. In the case of “Dangerous Climate Change”, the narrative is that climate is defined by some global temperature that is, in turn, controlled by carbon dioxide via the greenhouse effect. Unfortunately, most of us accepted the narrative while pointing out the incorrectness of its details such as the assumption of positive feedbacks, the attribution of changes to CO2, and the ignoring of natural internal variability. However, the narrative itself is absurd. Nobody knows what the temperature of the earth refers to. What is actually presented is something referred to as the average temperature anomaly. The variations in this quantity are tiny compared to the scatter of the data points being averaged. At any given time, there are almost as many stations cooling as warming. The earth is characterized by numerous different climate regimes, and it would defy scientific practice to assign the behavior of these numerous climate regimes to this small residue. That said, the earth has been warmer and colder than it is now (viz the ice ages and the Eocene), and there has been no evidence of CO2 causality.

Richard Lindzen received all his degrees from Harvard. His undergraduate major was physics, and his Ph.D. was in applied mathematics, but his thesis dealt with the interaction of radiation, photochemistry and dynamics in the stratosphere. For the remainder of his career he continued to work in the atmospheric sciences. He has held professorships at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

March 25, 2021 Don Sadoway -- Electrochemical Pathways Towards Sustainable Energy

Don Sadoway, John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT, on Electrochemical Pathways Towards Sustainable Energy. A sustainable energy future is axiomatically an electric future whose realization depends in large measure upon electrochemical innovations. Two examples: stationary energy storage and carbon-free steelmaking. Grid-scale electricity storage not only treats the intermittency of renewable electric power generation (wind and solar) but also confers resilience on today’s grid. For example, the liquid metal battery provides colossal power capability on demand and long service lifetime at requisite low cost. In 2019, worldwide steel production, 1.869 billion tons, generated 9% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions. As an example of novel approaches in this sector, molten oxide electrolysis represents an environmentally sound alternative to today’s carbon-intensive thermochemical process which produces an average 1.83 tons CO2 per ton of steel. In the narratives of both of these emerging technologies, there are lessons more broadly applicable to innovation: pose the right question, engage young minds (not experts), establish a creative culture, and invent inventors.

Donald R. Sadoway is the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science and Ph.D. in Chemical Metallurgy are from the University of Toronto. He joined the MIT faculty in 1978. The author of over 180 scientific papers and inventor on 35 U.S. patents, his research is directed towards batteries for grid-scale storage and for electric vehicles and towards environmentally sound metals extraction technologies. His accomplishments include the invention of the liquid metal battery for large-scale stationary storage and the invention of molten oxide electrolysis for carbon-free metals production. He is the founder of six companies, Ambri, Boston Metal, Avanti Battery, Pure Lithium, Lunar Resources, and Sadoway Labs. Online videos of his chemistry lectures hosted by MIT OpenCourseWare extend his impact on engineering education far beyond the lecture hall. Viewed more than 2,400,000 times, his TED talk is as much about inventing inventors as it is about inventing technology. In 2012 he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

October 1, 2015 Ron Latanision -- Unintended Consequences of Science and Technology

In the Fall of 2015, Judy Katz of the Jenks Center asked David Wilson to lead a discussion group on science and technology. The hope was that it might engage members of our community who have interest in things technological. David and I were faculty colleagues at MIT for many years. He asked me to give the inaugural talk. In our conversations about a topic, David pointed out that ”… I've been hearing discussions on concern that S&T is getting out of control. I wonder if something along the lines of ‘Are science and technology going too fast? Would you like to have a home robot that is smarter than you?’" On that basis we settled on Unintended Consequences of Science and Technology for my presentation on October 1, 2015. Dave served as moderator for the S&T group thereafter. Typical of the Wilson humor, David noted in an early meeting announcement that “…non-MIT people will be enthusiastically welcomed." Dave Wilson was a classic. It is fitting that the Forum that grew from the discussion group bears his name.

---Ron Latanision, 26 March 2022

Friday March 11th, 2022 - Ik-Kyung Jang - Optical Coherence Tomography,

Ik-Kyung Jang, MD, PhD, the Allan and Gill Gray Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) will speak about Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Plaque Erosion. Coronary OCT is an intravascular imaging modality that can be performed during cardiac catheterization. Its higher resolution has allowed visualization of detailed coronary plaque structure.

The talk will offer an overview of:

• History of OCT application in Cardiology
• A new in vivo diagnosis of plaque erosion in patients with acute heart attack
• A potential major shift in the management of patients with heart attack in the future

Ik-Kyung Jang, MD, PhD is a full Professor of Medicine at HMS and holds the Harvard Chair “Allan and Gill Gray Professor of Medicine”. He is the director of the Cardiac OCT Research Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and was the first incumbent of the “Michael and Kathryn Park Endowed Chair in Cardiology” at MGH, which he held from 2016-2021. Dr. Jang was named an “Eminent Scholar” at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, and has been a member of the nomination committee for the “Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine” for four times including the recent three consecutive years.

Dr. Jang arrived at MGH in 1987 after finishing his clinical training in medicine and cardiology, and receiving PhD at Leuven University in Belgium. Initially, his research focused on the pharmacology and physiology of thrombosis and thrombolysis. Over the years he served as the principal investigator of more than 30 clinical trials including multiple investigator-initiated studies. He pioneered in vivo vascular biology research using OCT in patients with coronary artery disease which began by performing the First-in-human coronary OCT procedure in 1998. In 2010 he established an international OCT Registry, collaborating with more than 25 sites in 9 countries. More than 35 fellows from 10 different countries have trained in Dr. Jang’s laboratory. He has more than 350 publications and has edited three textbooks. In April Dr. Jang will be awarded the “2022 Distinguished Scientist Award” by the American College of Cardiology in recognition of his major scientific contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the field of cardiovascular disease.

  

Friday February 25th, 2022. Yang Shao-Horn on Addressing Scientific Challenges Towards Mitigating Climate Change

Addressing Scientific Challenges Towards Mitigating Climate Change 

There is an urgent need to reduce our global carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change. While low-cost electricity from solar and wind provides exciting opportunities to reduce emissions, converting electricity to efficient carbon-free or carbon-neutral energy carriers at scale such as stored electrons, fuels and heat remains challenging to deep decarbonization. Electrochemical reactions are central to electrification via batteries, electrolysis in making decarbonized chemicals, fuels and materials, and negative emission technologies, which represent three important capabilities to connect electricity with our energy demands. Fundamental research on surface and molecular sciences, electron/ion transfer, and ion transport is instrumental to address scientific challenges and make breakthroughs in the core technologies such as lithium batteries and production of hydrogen-based carriers and metals. In this lecture, we will address scientific challenges and recent progress in regulating surface oxygen activity and tuning interfacial hydrogen bonds to enhance the functions of lithium batteries, and electrocatalysis of water splitting.

Yang Shao-Horn is JR EAST Professor of Engineering and faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Her research is centered on investigating and tuning the kinetics and dynamics of electrochemical energy storage and making of fuels, chemicals and materials. Prof. Shao-Horn is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Electrochemical Society, the National Academy of Inventors and the International Society of Electrochemistry. Her work has been recognized by the Faraday Medal of Royal Society of Chemistry 2018, the Dr. Karl Wamsler Innovation Award from the Technical University of Munich 2020 and Humbolt Prize in Chemistry from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation 2020. She has have advised 100+ students and postdocs at MIT, who are now pursuing successful careers in industry including Telsa, Amazon and Apple, national research laboratories, and in academia (~35) including faculty positions at MIT and in Europe and Asia.

Friday February 11th, 2022 Jacopo Buongiorno follow up questions and discussion

Please note This meeting will begin at 9:30 am

When Professor Jacopo Buongiorno spoke with us about Nuclear Batteries in December, it was clear that there were many questions that we did not have time to consider. He has agreed to return to address these questions on February 11th, again at 9:30 am. He has asked if we would let him know the questions our group would like to focus on in advance. A list has been assembled and will be circulated to you separately.

Friday January 28th, 2022 Hugh Wright: An Ice Core Climate Model: Where we Were, Are and Will Be and Actionable Strategies

Hugh Wright will speak on An Ice Core Climate Model: Where we Were, Are and Will Be and Actionable Strategies. He will present a geophysical model that relates transient earth temperatures to the varying CO2 forcing function. Vostok ice core data quantifies the CO2 concentration and mid latitude surface temperature over the past 400,000 years. With a subset of the data that corresponds to times when CO2 and temperature were stable, and data from the past 170 years, we calculate the response time of earth following a change in CO2 concentration. Having characterized the Earth's transient response to varying CO2 we have a simple means of estimating future temperatures provided we speculate regarding future CO2 concentrations. He will illustrate the technique with two future scenarios,1) net zero by 2050 then stable forever, and 2) a successive, massively aggressive negative emissions strategy after 2050.

The story isn't complete without considering effective, scalable, affordable sequestration techniques. A summary of a few approaches (direct air capture, mineral accretion, reforesting, etc.) will precede discussion of a promising new technique, pyrolytic biomass carbon stabilization and current efforts to scale this using industrial techniques. In a free market, this will not happen unless the process is profitable, so the business aspects and what some entrepreneurs are dong will be discussed.

Hugh graduated from RPI in 1956 with BS in Geology/Geophysics. His first job was at Lamont Labs [now Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory], a geophysical research arm of Columbia. These were exciting times; 1957 was International Geophysical Year. Earth plate techtonics were actively debated. The field researchers [Scripts, Woods Hole, Lamont] were turning up very convincing field data, the theorists an Morningside Heights and elsewhere said continental drift was a physical impossibility and a frivolous distraction. In his words, “As the junior guy at Lamont I got asked to install a seismometer on Cornwallis Island in northern Canada, essentially at the magnetic north pole. Three weeks of -40 temps later I got it done. Meanwhile a Russian team was setting up the Vostok research station at the south pole that produced the data I will discuss. My boss installed a seismometer in I believe it was Hawaii!”

During the Vietnam era, he joined the Navy and spent 5 years piloting long range anti-submarine patrol aircraft, flying missions from Spitsbergen to Panama. Following that he went to MIT for a masters in geophysics (1964), worked in industry (Avco) for 7 years, then research at BBN for 13 years, followed by 30 years or so with several instrumentation based entrepreneurial startups. He is currently President/General Partner of Technology Development Collaborative, an industrial sensor company.

“For the past 2 years, I have been obsessed with environmental issues, and have done a lot of independent analysis that is the basis of my talk and a book Environmental Strategies that is available as an ebook on Amazon.”

Slide deck is available here.

Friday January 14th, 2021 Ali Mosleh on Risk Assessment

At this meeting, UCLA Professor Ali Mosleh will speak about risk assessment, a key to life prediction in engineering systems of all kinds. Methods and applications of risk analysis have gone through more than 50 years of evolution and advancement, and currently enjoy wide acceptance in many fields of science, technology, policy, and planning. Over the past two decades significant progress has been made in formalization of the foundational theories and introduction of advanced techniques for more comprehensive quantitative risk assessments and more effective support for risk-informed decision making. These advancements are seen in all sub-disciplines of risk sciences including reliability engineering, system safety, cyber-physical system security, and resilience engineering. The talk will offer an overview of the discipline and two recent applications: Wildfire risk management of California electric power network, and COVID-19 risk-informed mitigation decision support.

Ali Mosleh is a UCLA Distinguished University Professor, and Evelyn Knight Endowed Chair in Engineering. He is also the director of the UCLA Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences. Prior to joining UCLA in 2014 he was the Nicole J. Kim Eminent Professor in Reliability Engineering and the Director of the Center for Risk and Reliability at the University of Maryland. He conducts research on methods for probabilistic risk analysis and reliability of complex systems, holds several patents, and has edited, authored, or co-authored over 700 publications including books, guidebooks, and technical papers. He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2010, is a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis and the American Nuclear Society, and recipient of several scientific achievement awards. He has served as technical advisor to numerous national and international organizations.