Speaker: Professor Steven Chu
- William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University
- Nobel Laureate in Physics 1997
- The 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy
Lecture I
Topic:Climate Change and Technical Paths to a Sustainable Future
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 16:00-17:00
Venue: Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica
Abstract 1: Climate Change and Technical Paths to a Sustainable Future
The industrial and agricultural revolutions have profoundly transformed the world, but the unintended consequence of these revolutions is that humans are changing the climate of Earth. I will briefly describe new data on the risks of climate change, before turning to how progress in carbon-free energy can provide a low-cost path to a more sustainable world. The remaining scientific and technology challenges that need to be overcome in the full transition to clean energy solutions will also be described.
Lecture II
Topic: Bio-imaging, Batteries and Beyond
Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 15:00-16:00
Venue: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica
Abstract 2: Bio-imaging, Batteries and Beyond
Our current applications in the development of nanoparticle probes for optical live cell and animal imaging and combined SEM-cathodoluminescence imaging will be described. If time permits, applications of nanotechnology to lithium ion batteries will be discussed.
Bio of Steven Chu
January 3, 2018
Steven Chu is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology in the Medical School at Stanford University. He has published over 280 papers in atomic and polymer physics, biophysics, biology, batteries, and other energy technologies. He holds 14 patents, and an additional 6 patent filings since 2015.
Dr. Chu was the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy from January 2009 until the end of April 2013. As the first scientist to hold a Cabinet position and the longest serving Energy Secretary, 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, was personally tasked by President Obama to assist BP in stopping the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, and initiated in 2010 the annual Clean Energy Ministerial.
Prior to his cabinet post, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was active in pursuit of alternative and renewable energy technologies, and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, where he helped launch Bio-X, a multi-disciplinary institute combining the physical and biological sciences with medicine and engineering and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. Previously he was head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Dr. Chu is the co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping, and has received numerous other prestigious awards. He 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. In 2018, he becomes the President Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received an A.B. degree in mathematics and a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as 32 honorary degrees.