Fall 2022

10/29/2022 | From Nobel Prize Research to the Breakthrough Technologies Transsforming our Lives -- Kai Sun (U-M Physics)

New developments in technology have revolutionized the way we live, from smartphones and devices to the internet, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, clean energy, big data, and much more. These inventions have one thing in common: they originate from key discoveries in physics made decades earlier in research driven by curiosity. In this lecture, I will invite you to share your ranking of the most important technological developments of the new millennium, and I will explain which Nobel prize in physics made each of these innovations possible, how we continue to explore these physics questions today, and how current research may transform our lives in the future. To conclude, I will share my pick of the most important recent technology breakthrough and track its origin to the historical debate about the foundation of quantum physics: Einstein vs. the Copenhagen interpretation of whether or not God plays dice.

11/05/2022 | The Heart of Darkness -- Mark Reynolds (U-M Astronomy)

In 2017, humanity, for the first time, peered into true darkness. Black holes are objects defined by their immense gravitational fields, so large that not even light can escape. In this talk, I will take you on the journey undertaken by a worldwide collaboration to image a black hole for the first time and tell you about the discoveries awaiting the coming generations.

11/12/2022 | Battery Management System: Engineering a Guardian Angel for Lithium-Ion Batteries -- Anna Stefanopoulou (U-M Mechanical Engineering)

From the Rosetta-Philae spacecraft landing three billion miles away from Earth to the daily commute of an electric vehicle, the battery management system (BMS) has been critical for protecting the pack, minimizing aging, accounting for cell-to-cell variability, and monitoring battery degradation in real-time from field data. Accurate predictions of degradation and lifetime of lithium-ion batteries are essential for reliability, safety, and key to cost-effectiveness and life-cycle emissions. The ultimate BMS task is the detection of the onset of venting, the prediction of imminent thermal runaway, which helps manage the risk of explosions and fires from failing batteries.

12/10/2022 | Fluid Instabilities: Stars, Bars, and Fusion -- Carolyn Kuranz (U-M Nuclear Engineeering and Radiologicala Sciences and Applied Physics)

Fluids are constantly mixing in our everyday lives. Some examples are oil and vinegar or coffee and cream. While we often don't think too much about how these fluids mix, they can have profound consequences in material ejecta in the Universe, fusion energy, and at your local pub. This talk will give a fundamental description of fluid mixing, discuss examples found in nature and engineering, and describe the effects mixing can have.