Earth and Mineral Sciences

Seminar series focusing on the future of energy starts Sept. 30

The Energy of the Future seminar series, which aims to further the discussion on important energy topics and inspire collaboration across institutions, will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, September 30. via Zoom. Credit: PixabayAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The first seminar of the fall 2021 Energy of the Future seminar series, “Characterizing and controlling the propagation of mechanical discontinuity using unsupervised, supervised and reinforcement learning techniques,” will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 30. via Zoom. Seminars are free and open to the public.

The seminar series, established in 2019 by the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, aims to further the discussion on important energy topics and inspire collaboration across institutions.

Siddharth Misra, associate professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering and the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M University, will present research findings from an ongoing project aimed at characterizing and controlling the propagation of mechanical discontinuity in crustal earth materials.

“Diverse, transdisciplinary collaboration is critical in ensuring energy remains innovative and meets the needs of our future societies,” said FeiFei Shi, assistant professor of energy engineering and committee chair of the seminar series. “The upcoming lectures will help showcase some of the most interesting ideas in the energy discourse and broaden the possibilities for collaboration.”

Upcoming seminar schedule 

Oct: 15: Climate and Energy Transition,” David A.T. Donohue, technical specialist, businessman, attorney, and founder and president of the IHRDC and the Arlington Group.

Oct. 21: Control of Plasma Chemistry and Dynamics for Low Carbon Energy Conversion,” Yiguang Ju, Robert Porter Patterson Professor at Princeton University.

Nov. 11:Locally Desirable Energy Development,” Hannah Wiseman, professor of law and Wilson Faculty Fellow in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State

Dec. 2:Battery Systems Engineering | Enabling Mobility and Grid Independence,” Christopher D. Rahn, associate dean for innovation and J. Lee Everett Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Penn State. He also is the director of the Mechatronics Research Laboratory and co-director of the Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center.

Last Updated September 29, 2021

Contact