Alfred University : Inamori School of Engineering : Conferences and Lectures: 2007 John F. McMahon Lecture

Inamori School of Engineering

Conferences and Lectures: 2008 John F. McMahon Lecture
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Holmes Auditorium, Harder Hall
11:20 a.m.

Linda E. Jones is the Director and Chair of the Picker Engineering Program and the Rosemary Bradford Hewlett ’40 Professor of Engineering at Smith College, which is the nations largest Women’s College and the only one to have an accredited engineering degree. Prior to her life at Smith she was Professor of Ceramic Engineering at Alfred University in the New York State College of Ceramics. She is deeply committed to the advancement of women and under represented individuals in science, technology and engineering. Her expertise is in the synthesis, structure development and degradation of structural carbon and carbides used in aerospace and other severe environment applications. The work in her laboratory on high temperature oxidation and degradation has been extended to the measurement of environmental effluents produced via manufacturing processes. She has an interest in the manufacturing of glass. She has funded research with the National Science Foundation’s Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing – MassNanoTech and has recently received State Department funding for engineering education support of Iraqi Women Engineers in an infrastructure revitalization program. She has 81 publications and has given over 100 national and international presentations. She has been named the American Carbon Society’s Graffin Lecturer. She serves on the American Carbon Society’s executive board. She is actively involved in the European and Asian Carbon Society. She is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. Education Secretary for the American Ceramic Society’s Glass Division, Chair of the Ceramic Bulletin Advisory Board and is the past President of the Ceramic Education Council. She has edited one book and received 9 Teaching Excellence Awards including the State University of New York’s Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition, Linda was also recognized by the State of New York as a SUNY Research Scholar in 2004 for her work on high temperature materials.

Abstract: The Practice of Engineering In The 21st Century

The large looming problems that must be solved lie at the interface between technical challenges and human needs. In early 2008 the National Academy of Engineering assembled an international group of leading technological thinkers who were asked to identify the Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century. Fourteen areas were identified as needing to be solved and all 14 lie at this interface between recognizing human need and connecting need to resources, solutions and appropriate technologies. The Grand Challenges (opportunities) include providing access to clean water, restoring and improving urban infrastructure, securing cyberspace, managing the nitrogen cycle, making solar energy economical, engineering medicines, developing carbon sequestration… http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx.

Solutions to these challenges will only be found by a creative work force - one that is technically trained and has the ability to move seamlessly across disciplines. Engineering by definition is a connecting force among disciplines. It is the practice of bringing technical solutions to human needs. In ones preparation, integrating the arts, the humanities and the sciences with engineering provides the breadth and depth needed to think critically, act reflectively and make informed choices. Dean McMahon understood this and the importance of a contemporary educational model that included at its heart a learner-centered pedagogy in which the practice of the profession via research and design remains a focus.

This need for interdisciplinarity and creativity will be highlighted in this lecture through a presentation of the advancements being made in the field of carbon science and engineering -- laboratories on a chip using carbon nanoprobes, graphene transistors as the barrier breaker moving us toward terahertz processor speeds, nanoradio, defect controlled activated carbons for water purification (H2 adsorption) and sequestration technologies, and structural carbons and composites that realize extremely high specific strength and moduli while maintaining integrity at high temperatures.