[E&E seminars] Tomorrow - Arun Majumdar - The Energy Challenge: Innovation and the Role of ARPA-E

[Jameson Twomey]

The Energy Challenge: Innovation and the Role of ARPA-E
Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Wednesday, October 13

Bartos Theatre, E15-070<http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=E15>

4:15 PM
Reception to Follow

Abstract

We are living through a Sputnik moment in our nation’s history, where we have witnessed multiple wake up calls with regards to the need for innovating in energy technologies.  ARPA-E was created to address this need by investing in high-risk/high-impact projects, with a mission to: (i) reduce energy imports; (ii) reduce energy-related emissions; (iii) improve energy efficiency of all economic sectors; and (iv) to ensure US technological lead.  This mission is at the heart of our national, economic and environmental security.  This talk will first briefly explain the history of the agency and then focus on new technical programs that have been created to address the mission, as well as a few scientific ideas that capture the imagination of what is technologically possible.  The talk will also explain how it is planning for the future, both in terms of technologies as well as an organization.

About the Speaker
Arun Majumdar became the first Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the country’s only agency devoted to transformational energy research and development, in October 2009.
Prior to joining ARPA-E, Majumdar was the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  His highly distinguished research career includes the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems.  In 2005, Majumdar was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for this pioneering work.
At Berkeley Labs and UC Berkeley, Majumdar helped shape several strategic initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy storage.  He also testified before Congress on how to reduce energy consumption in buildings. Majumdar has also served on the advisory committee of the National Science Foundation's engineering directorate, was a member of the advisory council to the materials sciences and engineering division of the Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences, and was an advisor on nanotechnology to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Additionally, Majumdar has served as an advisor to startup companies and venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley.
He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989
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