2016 Tripathy Endowed Memorial Lecture

Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016

Please join Chancellor Jacquie Moloney as she presents this year's distinguished Lecturer, Steven Chu, with an Honorary Degree during the 2016 Tripathy Endowed Memorial Lecture.

"Climate Change and a Path to Clean Energy"
Presented by: Professor Steven Chu,  1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy, William R. Kenan Jr. professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, School of Medicine at Stanford University
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016
Time: Honorary Degree Presentation at 2:30 p.m., Lecture at 3:30 p.m., Reception at 5 p.m.
Location: Moloney Hall, University Crossing, 220 Pawtucket St., Lowell

Abstract

The industrial and agricultural revolutions have profoundly transformed the world, but the unintended consequence of these revolutions is that we are changing the climate of Earth. I will briefly describe new data on climate change, the rapidly changing energy landscape, and then turn to the potential and challenges in the transition to clean energy sources in a low cost option towards a more sustainable world.

Bio

Steven Chu is the William R. Kenan Jr. professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, School of Medicine at Stanford University.  He has published some 260 papers in atomic and polymer physics, laser spectroscopy, biophysics, biology, biomedicine, batteries, and holds 11 patents.

Chu was the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy (January 2009 through April 2013), the longest-serving Energy Secretary. As the first scientist to hold a Cabinet position, he recruited outstanding scientists and engineers into the Department of Energy. He began several initiatives including ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy), the Energy Innovation Hubs, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Centers (CERC), and was tasked by President Obama to assist BP in stopping the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. Prior to his cabinet post, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. Previously he was twice Chair of Physics and helped launch bio-X at Stanford University, and headed the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Chu has numerous awards including the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping. He holds 30 honorary degrees and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Sinica, and is a foreign member of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology.

Past distinguished lecturers include:

• 2019, Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson, Professor of Materials Science, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Director, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology; Founding Core Faculty and Platfom Leader, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
  • Read more about Joanna Aizenberg's lecture "New Bio-Inspired Materials: When Chemistry Meets Optics and Surface Science"
    
    
• 2018, Shuji Nakamura, Nobel Laureate, Physics, Solid State Lighting and Energy Center, University of California Santa Barbar
  
  
• 2016, Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy, School of Medicine at Stanford University
  • Read more about Steven Chu's "Climate Change and a Path to Clean Energy" lecture
  • UML News: Climate Change Is Real, Says Nobel Prize Winner
    
    
• 2015, Yang Yang, UCLA
• 2014, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Carnegie Mellon University
• 2013, Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2012, Fred Wudl, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.
• 2011, David A. Tirrell, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
• 2010, Timothy Swager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
• 2009, Sir Richard Friend, University of Cambridge, U.K.
• 2008, Craig C. Mello, Nobel Laureate, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• 2007, Robert Grubbs, Nobel Laureate, California Institute Technology
• 2006, Edwin L. Thomas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2005, Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Laureate, University of California
• 2004, George Whitesides, Harvard University
• 2003, Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2002, Alan G. MacDiarmid, Nobel Laureate, University of Pennsylvania