Are you interested in building a career in STEM? Join The New York Academy of Sciences for an exciting monthly online event series designed to explore the vast opportunities within STEM fields. This series offers unique access to experts across industries.
Each session features guest speakers from distinguished organizations, including Noven Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and more. Gain invaluable insights into their career journeys, the roles they hold today, and the innovative work they do.
Engage in live Q&A sessions to ask questions that will help shape your own career path. Whether actively pursuing a STEM career or simply exploring possibilities, this event series provides the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.
This series is open to all, regardless of age or background, and is the perfect opportunity to network and learn. Don’t miss your chance to connect with leading STEM professionals and take the next step in your career journey!
Maggie Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Marine Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). After completing postdoctoral fellowships with the Smithsonian Institution and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, she took a position in the Red Sea Research Center where she began building the Global Change Ecology Lab at KAUST. Professor Johnson studies coral reefs across the globe, from the central tropical Pacific to Caribbean Panama, and seeks to understand what role humans are playing in the rapid degradation of these valuable ecosystems. In addition to her research interests, Professor Johnson is strongly committed to supporting women and underrepresented groups in the sciences and actively works on recruiting and supporting a diverse research group.
Pricing
Member: Free
Nonmember: $10.00
By attending this session, you will receive an exclusive 50% discount for upcoming events in the series.
Are you interested in building a career in STEM? Join The New York Academy of Sciences for an exciting monthly online event series designed to explore the vast opportunities within STEM fields. This series offers unique access to experts across industries.
Each session features guest speakers from distinguished organizations, including Noven Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and more. Gain invaluable insights into their career journeys, the roles they hold today, and the innovative work they do.
Engage in live Q&A sessions to ask questions that will help shape your own career path. Whether actively pursuing a STEM career or simply exploring possibilities, this event series provides the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.
This series is open to all, regardless of age or background, and is the perfect opportunity to network and learn. Don’t miss your chance to connect with leading STEM professionals and take the next step in your career journey!
Shihadah Saleem is the Director of Youth Programs and Pathways at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY. She works to provide NYC high school and college students with STEM-focused workforce and youth development opportunities through NYSCI’s Science Career Ladder, Explainer program and free teen events. Shihadah is a committed board member of the National Girls Collaborative Project and co-chair of the STEM PUSH Network’s Steering Committee.
For over 15 years, Shihadah has provided rich STEM and youth development programs and opportunities for students, professionals, and the community. Shihadah continues to be a fervent collaborator, networker and convener, always willing and ready to help make connections, show support, and push for sustainable and actionable changes in STEM education, industry, and non-profit sectors.
Pricing
Member: Free
Nonmember: $10.00
By attending this session, you will receive an exclusive 50% discount for upcoming events in the series.
Are you interested in building a career in STEM? Join The New York Academy of Sciences for an exciting monthly online event series designed to explore the vast opportunities within STEM fields. This series offers unique access to experts across industries.
Each session features guest speakers from distinguished organizations, including Noven Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and more. Gain invaluable insights into their career journeys, the roles they hold today, and the innovative work they do.
Engage in live Q&A sessions to ask questions that will help shape your own career path. Whether actively pursuing a STEM career or simply exploring possibilities, this event series provides the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.
This series is open to all, regardless of age or background, and is the perfect opportunity to network and learn. Don’t miss your chance to connect with leading STEM professionals and take the next step in your career journey!
Dr. Mahwish Khan is the Associate Director of Medical Affairs and Medical Information at Noven Pharmaceuticals. She obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) in 2019 from Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy – Long Island University. Throughout her training, she spent 6+ years in direct patient care working at various care settings including hospitals, long-term care facilities and pharmacies throughout NYC. Following graduation, she transitioned into the pharmaceutical industry, where she has 5+ years of experience across US/Global Medical Affairs projects. Dr. Khan has experience leading medical readiness activities for new product launches and developing life cycle management strategies across psychiatry and neurology. She has a passion for bringing science to life by developing meaningful relationships with key healthcare experts and educating patients through holistic approaches.
Pricing
Member: Free
Nonmember: $10.00
By attending this session, you will receive an exclusive 50% discount for upcoming events in the series.
115 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10006 or join virtually by Zoom
Using remote sensing data, including LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and high-resolution satellite imagery, archaeologists are working across scales and mapping sites at levels of detail that once seemed impossible. In parallel, deep learning models are transforming our ability to analyze the resulting large-scale datasets. However, these new developments also present practical and ethical challenges. In this talk, Dr. VanValkenburgh will draw on his own multi-faceted research projects in Peru to discuss how digital approaches are expanding archaeology’s reach and scientific impact, while also changing the way that the field works with stakeholders and publics.
6:00 pm – 7:00 PM: Dinner in the pantry room ($20 suggested, free for students) 7:00 pm – 8:30 PM: Presentation and Q&A in the auditorium
Speakers
Peter VanValkenburgh Associate Professor of Anthropology, Archaeology, and the Ancient World Brown University
Terence N. D’Altroy Loubat Professor of American Archaeology Columbia University
Pricing
All: Free
About the Series
Since 1877, the Anthropology Section of The New York Academy of Sciences has served as a meeting place for scholars in the Greater New York area. The section strives to be a progressive voice within the anthropological community and to contribute innovative perspectives on the human condition nationally and internationally. Learn more and view other events in the Anthropology Section series.
Inclusion, in its broadest sense, refers to the practice of ensuring that all individuals are respected, valued, and supported within a community or society, regardless of their differences. Each individual should feel confident and comfortable being their authentic selves without fear of judgment or retaliation.
But what does inclusion look like in the context of STEM fields? What are some barriers to inclusion in STEM? And what unique potential does fostering a culture of inclusion have on promoting social justice and driving innovative solutions to our society’s problems? Explore the answers to these questions and learn more at the first session of our ‘Inclusion in STEM’ series, featuring Alfred M. Mays, Chief Diversity Officer and Strategist and Senior Program Officer for Diversity and Education at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
About the Series
The Inclusion in STEM series delves into a few of the many topics that are essential for actively cultivating a culture of inclusion in STEM, including defining inclusion, promoting inclusive pipelines through mentorship, finding solidarity and power through joining affinity groups, being an inclusive leader, and communicating research in a way that centers inclusion, equity, and intersectionality. Learn more about the series and explore the full lineup of events.
Speaker
Alfred M. Mays currently serves as the Chief Diversity Officer and Strategist for Science Education and Diversity at Burroughs Wellcome Fund where he directs a portfolio of competitive and strategic grant programs. Prior to Alfred assuming this role, he served as an independent consultant with a service delivery that included strategic planning, project incubation, design, and implementation. Alfred has served as an enabler within several education initiatives to include the Collaborative Project, a 21st Century Program that was supported by the North Carolina General Assembly, staff advisor to North Carolina’s eLearning Commission, Director of Special Projects at the University of North Carolina – Office of the President, and regional director for the North Carolina Model Teacher Education Consortium. Alfred enjoys facilitating youth leadership and empowerment activities and serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations. He has been recognized for his contributions with many organizational successes to include Government Wide Best Practices.
Sponsor
Thought Partner
Pricing
Member: Free
Nonmember: $10.00
By attending this session, you will receive an exclusive 50% discount for upcoming events in the series.
Are you interested in building a career in STEM? Join The New York Academy of Sciences for an exciting monthly online event series designed to explore the vast opportunities within STEM fields. This series offers unique access to experts across industries.
Each session features guest speakers from distinguished organizations, including Noven Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and more. Gain invaluable insights into their career journeys, the roles they hold today, and the innovative work they do.
Engage in live Q&A sessions to ask questions that will help shape your own career path. Whether actively pursuing a STEM career or simply exploring possibilities, this event series provides the tools and knowledge you need to succeed.
This series is open to all, regardless of age or background, and is the perfect opportunity to network and learn. Don’t miss your chance to connect with leading STEM professionals and take the next step in your career journey!
Dr. Lev Sviridov, joined the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2013 as an Acting Director. Following a national search, Dr. Sviridov was appointed Director in 2014. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from The City College of New York and a D.Phil degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Prior to his service as Acting Director, Dr. Sviridov served as a Senior Research Associate at the CUNY Energy Institute, where his research led to the founding of Urban Electric Power, a non-lithium energy storage company based in Pearl River, New York. In addition to his responsibilities, he serves as Vice Chair of Human Rights First and on the selection panel for the Sloan Award for Teaching of Math and Science in New York City Public Schools, and as Chair of the Development Committee for the Foundation for City College.
Pricing
Member: Free
Nonmember: $10.00
By attending this session, you will receive an exclusive 50% discount for upcoming events in the series.
Everybody has some innate feelings about the start of Earth. Today we want to maybe expand those views and feelings by considering some basic physics points that have generally been neglected. One of these relates to the basic opposite rotation that the neighboring planet, Earth’s twin, Venus exhibits. Another relates to the mysterious fact that our Sun exhibits a maximum number of sunspots that peaks approximately every eleven years, sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little less, but on the average about every 11 years over the relatively short time of several hundred years for which sunspots have been counted. Two recent publications provide background, but I think the talk can be readily appreciated without prior research. (Readily searchable under WJCMP Cadieu 2002 and WJCMP Cadieu 2024.)
Main Presentation: 12:45 pm to 2:30 pm
The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter
Paul J. Steinhardt
(video of lecture by Paul J. Steinhardt, published on YouTube.com)
A crystal structure is characterized by periodicity and symmetries. That is, it has repeated units and remains the same when rotated or translated in particular ways. For example, table salt has a repeating cubic form and remains the same when rotated 90 degrees along three axes. Mineral structures can be observed microscopically and by x-ray diffraction patterns. In two dimensions, crystals are called tilings, and the same principles apply. For crystals or tiles to fill space, there are limitations on shapes. For instance, pentagons will not tile without gaps.
In 1974 Roger Penrose introduced an aperiodic tiling of two shapes using a “matching” rule, with local pentagonal symmetry. His method can be generalized to three dimensions as “quasicrystals,” so named because it was considered impossible for aperiodic crystals to occur naturally. A quasicrystal is ordered by a rule, but not periodic.
Dan Schechtman created metallic quasicrystals in 1982. Independently, Paul J. Steinhardt, now at Princeton University, hypothesized their natural existence and searched for them in collections of geological samples. A single instance led to a remarkable expedition to a remote region, where more natural examples were discovered. They turned out to be of primordial extraterrestrial origin.
Steinhardt’s 2019 book “The Second Kind of Impossible” narrates the entire project. This lecture, recorded at Harvard University c. 2000, outlines the science, the expedition, and the discovery.
Synthetic quasicrystals have been put to use, notably in superconducting graphene experiments, in non-stick cookware, and in LED lights. The theory of quasicrystals and aperiodic tilings is also an important area of mathematical research today.
Fred Cadieu is Emeritus Professor in the Physics Department of Queens College of the City University of New York. He received BS, MS, and a PhD from the University of Chicago. Research efforts have been to a certain extent concentrated in the areas of the synthesis of magnetic and permanent magnet films. Over the last two decades Professor Cadieu has taught astronomy with the application of physics—what is currently known as the fast-moving subject of astrophysics with modern tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope. One recent publication is titled “Just A Bit of Physics Can Tell So Much: A Unique Story of the Start of the Earth-Moon System” (World Journal of Condensed Matter Physics, Fred J. Cadieu, 2020). Other publications have hinged upon the application of very basic, but often overlooked, physics concepts such as the topic of today’s talk. Research Gate lists about 140 publications.
Paul J. Steinhardt is the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton University, where he is also on the faculty of both the Department of Physics and the Department of Astrophysical Sciences.
Steinhardt received his B.S. in Physics in 1974 from Caltech, where he worked with Richard Feynman, Barry Barish and Frank Sciulli. He received his M.A. in Physics in 1975 and Ph.D. in Physics in 1978 from Harvard University….
Steinhardt’s research spans problems in particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology and condensed matter physics. He is one of the original architects of the inflationary model….In 2001, Steinhardt and collaborators proposed that the big bang might instead be a big bounce, and that the key events shaping the large-scale smoothness, flatness and density variations of the universe may have occurred before the bounce….
In condensed matter physics, Steinhardt and Dov Levine (Technion) first introduced the concept of quasicrystals in 1983, a new phase of solid matter with symmetries that are forbidden for periodic crystals (such as five-fold symmetry in two dimensions or icosahedral symmetry in three dimensions). Throughout the more than three decades following that theoretical breakthrough, Steinhardt has continued to make contributions to understanding quasicrystals’ unique mathematical and physical properties.
Steinhardt is a Fellow in the American Physical Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He shared the P.A.M. Dirac Medal from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in 2002…, the Oliver E. Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society in 2010 for his contribution to the theory of quasicrystals; and the John Scott Award in 2012 for his work on quasicrystals…. In 2020, he was awarded the Niels Bohr Institute Medal of Honor for his contributions to science and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Professor Steinhardt is the author of over 200 refereed articles, 100 reviews, sixteen patents, three patents pending, three technical books, and numerous popular articles. His is the author of The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter , (2019), a popular account of the remarkable decades-long story of quasicrystals…. He is also co-author (with Neil Turok) of Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang (2007), a popular book on contemporary theories of cosmology.
Excavated starting in 2013 in South Africa, the hominin now called Homo naledi may be over 330,000 years old. How were they related to other Homo species? What were they like physically? Their teeth may indicate their diet. The known remains may have been buried intentionally. Ms. Milts will review the discovery, what is known, and what remains unknown about this “new” human ancestor.
Main Presentation: 12:45 pm to 2:30 pm
Personal Identification: Its Modern Development and Security Implications
David J. Haas
Personal Identification: Modern Development and Security Implications, Second Edition chronicles the path of personal identification measures, including the latest developments of Real ID, which, in addition to a passport, provides a “trusted & secure” identification card for every American citizen. Scholars and professional security managers understand that stability, security, and safety necessitate these identity measures to ensure a safer America after 9/11. The book explains the various stages and advances in the 200 years of personal identification development. It provides readers with a unique study of this fascinating history of the relationship between identity and how one validates and proves one’s own identity. The enactment of the REAL ID Act of 2005, requiring a trusted and tamper-resistant document for each citizen of the United States (their State-issued driver’s license or Identification Card), is being instituted so that one can trust that “you are who you say you are.” The state-issued Real ID driver’s license is not a national ID card but a nationally recognized ID for each citizen.
Speakers
David Haas received his BA in Physics and PhD in Biophysics in protein crystallography and molecular biology at the State University of NY at Buffalo. For the next five years, he performed basic research in protein crystallography at several institutions in Europe, Israel, and the United States. In 1970, he joined Philips Electronic Instruments in Mt Vernon, NY, as Principal Scientist for X-ray systems, working on analytical instruments and designing some of the first airport security X-ray systems used worldwide during the 1970s.
Conceiving the idea of a self-expiring security ID (Visitor badge), David and his wife, Sandra, formed Temtec Inc., which developed and manufactured high-tech visitor and temporary IDs for more than 20 years under the brand name TEMPbadge. Temtec Inc. was sold to Brady Worldwide Corporation in 2002. David & Sandra Haas have more than 100 patents to their credit and many technical and scientific publications.
Dr. Haas has published a book by ASIS International entitled: “Personal Identification – Its Modern Development and Security Implications.” It reviews the history and reasons for modern personal identification documents such as Passports, National Identity Cards, etc. Dr. Haas also published a monograph on the development of Electronic Security Screening for Aviation Passenger Screening between 1968 and 1973.
Ruth Milts graduated from Cornell University at age 19. She did graduate work in biology at Colombia University, where she received an M.S. She worked for 33 years at William H. Maxwell Vocational High School in Brooklyn, first as a biology teacher and then as a program chair, assistant principal (administration) and assistant principal (supervision). She earned an M.A. from Pace University in College Administration and Supervision. She has always been interested in paleo-anthropology and archaeology and has participated in archaeological digs in the Southwest and England. Among her many interests are attending opera and doing beadwork.
From the future of higher education to regulating artificial intelligence (AI), Reid Hoffman and Nicholas Dirks had a wide-ranging discussion during the first installment of the Authors at the Academy series.
Published April 12, 2024
By Nick Fetty
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
It was nearly a full house when authors Nicholas Dirks and Reid Hoffman discussed their respective books during an event at The New York Academy of Sciences on March 27, 2024.
Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn as well as Inflection AI and currently serves as a partner at Greylock, discussed his book Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI. Dirks, who spent a career in academia before becoming President and CEO of the Academy, focused on his recently published book City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University. Their discussion, the first installment in the Authors at the Academy series, was largely centered on artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will impact education, business and creativity moving forward.
The Role of Philosophy
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
The talk kicked off with the duo joking about the century-old rivalry between the University of California-Berkeley, where Dirks serves on the faculty and formerly served as chancellor, and Stanford University, where Hoffman earned his undergraduate degree in symbolic systems and currently serves on the board for the university’s Institute for Human-Centered AI. From Stanford, Hoffman went to Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar to study philosophy. He began by discussing the role that his background in philosophy has played throughout his career.
“One of my conclusions about artificial intelligence back in the day, which is by the way still true, is that we don’t really understand what thinking is,” said Hoffman, who also serves on the Board of Governors for the Academy. “I thought maybe philosophers understand what thinking is, they’ve been at it a little longer, so that’s part of the reason I went to Oxford to study philosophy. It was extremely helpful in sharpening my mind toolset.”
Public Intellectual Discourse
He encouraged entrepreneurs to think about the theory of human nature in the work they’re doing. He said it’s important to think about what they want for the future, how to get there, and then to articulate that with precision. Another advantage of a philosophical focus is that it can strengthen public intellectual discourse, both nationally and globally, according to Hoffman.
“It’s [focused on] who are we and who do we want to be as individuals and as a society,” said Hoffman.
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
Early in his career, Hoffman concluded that working as a software entrepreneur would be the most effective way he could contribute to the public intellectual conversation. He dedicated a chapter in his book to “Public Intellectuals” and said that the best way to elevate humanity is through enlightened discourse and education, which was the focus of a separate chapter in his book.
Rethinking Networks in Academia
The topic of education was an opportunity for Hoffman to turn the tables and ask Dirks about his book. Hoffman asked Dirks how institutions of higher education need to think about themselves as nodes of networks and how they might reinvent themselves to be less siloed.
Dirks mentioned how throughout his life he’s experienced various campus structures and cultures from private liberal arts institutions like Wesleyan University, where Dirks earned his undergraduate degree, and STEM-focused research universities like Cal Tech to private universities in urban centers (University of Chicago, Columbia University) and public, state universities (University of Michigan, University of California-Berkeley).
While on the faculty at Cal Tech, Dirks recalled he was encouraged to attend roundtables where faculty from different disciplines would come together to discuss their research. He remembered hearing from prominent academics such as Max Delbrück, Richard Feynman, and Murray Gell-Mann. Dirks, with a smile, pointed out the meeting location for these roundtables was featured in the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop.
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
An Emphasis on Collaboration in Higher Education
Dirks said that he thinks the collaborative culture at Cal Tech enabled these academics to achieve a distinctive kind of greatness.
“I began to see this is kind of interesting. It’s very different from the way I’ve been trained, and indeed anyone who has been trained in a PhD program,” said Dirks, adding that he often thinks about a quote from a colleague at Columbia who said, “you’re trained to learn more and more about less and less.”
Dirks said that the problem with this model is that the incentive structures and networks of one’s life at the university are largely organized around disciplines and individual departments. As Dirks rose through the ranks from faculty to administration (both as a dean at Columbia and as chancellor at Berkeley), he began gaining a bigger picture view of the entire university and how all the individual units can fit together. Additionally, Dirks challenged academic institutions to work more collaboratively with the off-campus world.
“A Combination of Competition and Cooperation”
Dirks then asked Hoffman how networks operate within the context of artificial intelligence and Silicon Valley. Hoffman described the network within the Valley as “an intense learning machine.”
“It’s a combination of competition and cooperation that is kind of a fierce generator of not just companies and products, but ideas about how to do startups, ideas about how to scale them, ideas of which technology is going to make a difference, ideas about which things allow you to build a large-scale company, ideas about business models,” said Hoffman.
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
During a recent talk with business students at Columbia University, Hoffman said he was asked about the kinds of jobs the students should pursue upon graduation. His advice was that instead of pinpointing specific companies, jobseekers should choose “networks of vibrant industries.” Instead of striving for a specific job title, they should instead focus on finding a network that inspires ingenuity.
“Being a disciplinarian within a scholarly, or in some case scholastic, discipline is less important than [thinking about] which networks of tools and ideas are best for solving this particular problem and this particular thing in the world,” said Hoffman. “That’s the thing you should really be focused on.”
The Role of Language in Artificial Intelligence
Much of Hoffman’s book includes exchanges between him and ChatGPT-4, an example of a large language model (LLM). Dirks points out that Hoffman uses GPT-4 not just an example, but as an interlocutor throughout the book. By the end of the book, Dirks observed that the system had grown because of Hoffman’s inputs.
In the future, Hoffman said he sees LLMs being applied to a diverse array of industries. He used the example of the steel industry, in areas like sales, marketing, communications, financial analysis, and management.
“LLMs are going to have a transformative impact on steel manufacturing, and not necessarily because they’re going to invent new steel manufacturing processes, but [even then] that’s not beyond the pale. It’s still possible,” Hoffman said.
AI Understanding What Is Human
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
Hoffman said part of the reason he articulates the positives of AI is because he views the general discourse as so negative. One example of a positive application of AI would be having a medical assistant on smartphones and other devices, which can improve medical access in areas where it may be limited. He pointed out that AI can also be programmed as a tutor to teach “any subject to any age.”
“[AI] is the most creative thing we’ve done that also seems to have potential autonomy and agency and so forth, and that causes a bunch of very good philosophical questions, very good risk questions,” said Hoffman. “But part of the reason I articulate this so positively is because…[of] the possibility of making things enormously better for humanity.”
Hoffman compared the societal acceptance of AI to automobiles more than a century ago. At the outset, automobiles didn’t have many regulations, but as they grew in scale, laws around seatbelts, speed limits, and driver’s licenses were established. Similarly, he pointed to weavers who were initially wary of the loom before understanding its utility to their work and the resulting benefit to broader society.
“AI can be part of the solution,” said Hoffman. “What are the specific worries in navigation toward the good things and what are the ways that we can navigate that in good ways. That’s the right place for a critical dialogue to happen.”
Regulation of AI
Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences
Hoffman said because of the speedy rate of development of new AI technologies, it can make effective regulation difficult. He said it can be helpful to pinpoint the two or three most important risks to focus on during the navigation process, and if feasible to fix those issues down the road.
Carbon emissions from automobiles was an example Hoffman used, pointing out that emissions weren’t necessarily on the minds of engineers and scientists when the automobile was being developed, but once research started pointing to the detrimental environmental impacts of carbon in the atmosphere, governments and companies took action to regulate and reduce emissions.
“[While] technology can help to create a problem, technologies can also help solve those problems,” Hoffman said. “We won’t know they’re problems until we’re into them and obviously we adjust as we know them.”
Hoffman is currently working on another book about AI and was invited to return to the Academy to discuss it once published.
For on-demand video access to the full event, click here.
Check out the other events from our 2024 Authors at the Academy Series
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 rewards the discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles so tiny that their size determines their properties. These smallest components of nanotechnology now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and they guide surgeons when they remove tumor tissue, among many other applications.
Physicists had long known that in theory, size-dependent quantum effects could arise in nanoparticles. Few people believed that this knowledge would be put to practical use. However, in the early 1980s Aleksey Yekimov created nanoparticles of copper chloride in glass. Their size affected the color of the glass via quantum effects.
A few years later, Louis Brus was the first scientist to prove size-dependent quantum effects in particles floating freely in a fluid. In 1993 Moungi Bawendi revolutionized the chemical production of quantum dots, resulting in almost perfect particles. This high quality was necessary for them to be utilized in applications.
Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED technology. They add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue.
Main Presentation: 12:45 pm to 2:30 pm
The Scientist’s Role in Crafting Effective Public Policy (Annual address by an alumnus of the NYAS Junior Academy)
Kiran Rachamallu
Increasingly, the scientific community has been called upon to utilize their expertise when making important policy decisions. This talk will highlight how scientific research is used in the context of policy making in the federal government, demonstrating how to ensure that policies are based on accurate information that reflects the latest scientific advancement. Using real world examples such as climate change, antibiotic resistance, and Covid-19, this talk will go through some strategies on how scientists can ensure their voices are heard as well as best practices for translating cutting-edge scientific research into real world policy change.
Speakers
Kiran Rachamallu is a Research Assistant at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (https://www.cbpp.org). He has previously worked for the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Institutes for Research. Kiran is skilled in conducting both basic science and social science research and specializes in translating the latest scientific research into recommendations for policymakers. Throughout high school, he was a member of the Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences and participated in several challenges. Kiran graduated summa cum laude from the College of William and Mary with a Bachelors in Public Policy and Biology.
Philip W. Apruzzese (BE Chem. E., MS Technology Mgmt., CHMM) graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. He was employed in the pharmaceutical industry (Squibb, Beecham, Schering-Plough) for nearly 40 years, holding manufacturing operations, project, research pilot plant startup, and environmental compliance management positions. From 2010 to 2019 he was employed part-time as a Chem Eng/Environmental, health and safety consultant, in addition to working seasonally as a Level C Official for USA Cycling racing events. Since relocating to the Seattle area he has begun volunteer work with several non-profit community cycling/Recycling resources and advocacy organizations. In 2015, he spoke on Tour de France cycling performance enhancements – Post Lance/Post Drugs. In 2019 and 2021 he presented on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry before the Lyceum Society.
