Engineering Physics Department Colloquium

Dr. F. A. Garner, Radiation Effects Consulting (retired from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Hosted by the Engineering Physics Department

Room 106, Engineering Research Building (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Dianne Francis at dfrancis@engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

PSERC Public Webinar

William Schulze, Robinson Professor of Applied Economics and Public Policy
Cornell University

Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center

Participation by webcast or phone.
For more information, contact Dennis J. Ray at (608) 265-3808 or djray@engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Continue reading at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Growing the Bioeconomy

Sponsored by the UW-Cooperative Extension Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Team

Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St (map)
Parking in City of Madison State Street Campus Ramp (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

The UW-Cooperative Extension Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Team is sponsoring a view (& listen)-only site at the Pyle Center for this conference. If you are planning on attending please email David Liebl at liebl@epd.engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Rather than focusing on cutting-edge, energy-saving technologies, Steinhoff emphasized that human needs for access, physical activity, housing, and social connections are the driving forces behind decisions that affect community sustainability. For example, the need for physical activity and recreation may motivate a person to relocate his or her home to the countryside or a suburb if they perceive a city as unable to meet their needs. However, that’s not to say transportation, building materials or the state of the environment aren’t important to neighborhood design, Steinhoff said.

One method that Steinhoff discussed and that the city of Madison has already adopted is The Natural Step (TNS), a science-based, comprehensive model for planning in complex systems. To help communities move toward a sustainable future, the requirements of TNS focus on increasing the capacity of residents to meet their needs and decreasing the concentrations of harmful substances like greenhouse gases. For example, TNS advocates for neighborhood development that is:

• Bikeable and walkable (car use increases greenhouse gas concentrations)
• Compact (higher density of housing and businesses)
• Transit-oriented (transit should be an integral part of the development planning process rather than an afterthought)
• Varied in use (both business and residential)
• Diverse in the housing options it provides

Steinhoff recommended that Madison learn from its sister city, Freiberg, Germany. A global leader in sustainable design, Freiberg has successfully integrated cutting edge energy-saving technologies with a human needs-focused community design to create a highly efficient and highly livable city.

To learn more about the steps Madison is taking to develop a shared vision of sustainability for the region, or to get ideas for your own neighborhood, please visit: http://www.neighborhooddesigncenter.org/.

Kyle Ankenbauer, a civil engineering student, and Eyleen Chou, mechanical engineering, are working to construct a mini-hydroelectric power generator to provide electricity to a school, library and church in Bayonnais, Haiti.

Continue reading at Madison.com

ECE 600 Guest Speaker

Yicheng Lu, Professor, Rutgers University

Hosted by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Room 1227, Engineering Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Douglas R. Pollard at dpollard@engr.wisc.edu
Additional details: Click here

Kevin Tomsovic, Professor, University of Tennessee

Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center

Room 1721, Engineering Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact Dennis J. Ray at 608-265-3808 or djray@engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

ECE 600 Guest Speaker

Nelson Tansu, Associate Professor, Lehigh University

Hosted by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Room 1227, Engineering Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact Douglas R. Pollard at dpollard@engr.wisc.edu
Additional details: Click here

Jeremy Rifkin, Futurist author of The Hydrogen Economy and 15 other books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the work force, society, and the environment.

Sponsored by the Wisconsin Union

Wiscosin Union Theater, Memorial Union (map)
Parking in Lot 6 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact 262-2216 or lectureseries@union.wisc.edu
Additional event details and ticket information: Click here

The Lindbergh Lecture Series

Dr. James R. Maddocks, Senior Engineer, Atlas Scientific San Jose California

Sponsored by the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Room 1106, Mechanical Engineering (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Marsha E. Landretti at 262-3543 or landretti@engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Celebrating Oil’s 150th Birthday

Alex Epstein, Ayn Rand Institute

Hosted by Students of Objectivism

Room 2650, Mosse Humanities Building (map)
Parking in Lot 6 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact jeallard@mac.com
Additional event details: Click here

Scott Olsen, Senior Engineer, MG&E

Sponsored by Engineers Without Borders

Room 1800, Engineering Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Scott Olsen at 608 252-5689 or solsen@mge.com
Additional event details: Click here

Carbon restrictions are inevitable and will require significant changes to the state’s energy mix—that’s the message from Commissioner Lauren Azar of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Azar spoke Tuesday night with Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Sean Dilweg about making critical decisions in preparing for the uncertainties of climate change. The lecture was a part of the Nelson Institute’s Community Environmental Forum.

With the looming UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen and the EPA’s own studies on the impacts of carbon emissions, carbon restrictions are a reality for both utilities and their regulators. Wisconsin’s heavy fossil fuel reliance—70 percent of electricity generation comes from fossil fuels—means a drastic transformation will take place over the next few decades, says Azar. The state’s renewable energy resources, specifically wind power and geothermal energy, are marginal at best, while solar power is not a viable solution in the state with current technology, claims Azar. She says nuclear power will be essential in meeting future carbon emission standards, but many legal challenges remain, including the moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction in Wisconsin.

Commissioner Dilweg is responsible for regulating insurance companies for the 6th largest insurance state in the United States. Like Azar, climate change is posing many new challenges for Dilweg in predicting and planning for the future. He is currently at work on legislation that will encourage insurance companies to plan for the effects of climate change, including extreme weather events.

Both speakers say realistic planning is critical in adapting to the effects of climate change. For Wisconsin, transforming our generation portfolio to mitigate climate change will include key infrastructure decisions in the face of uncertainty. For the people who have to make decisions like those, risk is a fact of life, but with cooperation and accurate information they can make more informed decisions.

More information:

Nelson Institute Community Environmental Forum

Public Service Commission

Office of Commissioner of Insurance

Sponsored by WISPIRG

 
Library Mall (map)
Parking in City of Madison State Street Campus Ramp (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip) Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact Niels Ole Holck at nholck@wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Sponsored by the Center for Business, Environment and Social Responsibility and the WI Sustainable Business Council

Discovery World, 550 North Harbor Drive, Milwaukee, WI (map)

For more information, contact Professor Tom Eggert at sustain@bus.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Please register at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/88951
Registration Fee: Includes conference materials, lunch and refreshments.
$200.00 Registration Fee Online or $250 at the door
$50.00 UW Faculty Registration Fee or $100 at the door
FREE Speaker/Sponsor
FREE The First 100 Students

Shirley Johnson , International Atomic Energy Agency

Hosted by American Nuclear Society

Tong Auditorium (Room 1003), Engineering Centers Building (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Casey Alan Anderson at caanderson5@wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Shmuel Oren, Professor, University of California at Berkeley

Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center

Room 1721, Engineering Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 17 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
Campus bike map | Madison bike map

For more information, contact Dennis J. Ray at (608) 265-3808 or djray@engr.wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here

Link to video file of presentation.

Nuclear energy and political science modelers gathered together last Tuesday at the UW campus to discuss models that predict how likely a nation is to pursue nuclear weapons. Dr. Clifford Singer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Andrew Kydd of University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Dr. Man-Sung Yim of North Carolina State University each presented in the public panel discussion titled, “Who Will be the Next to Pursue the Nuclear Bomb?”

Each speaker presented his own views on which models were the most useful and accurate. Using Iran and North Korea as examples, Dr. Singer asserted that the “historical narrative” is critical in determining if the quantitative models are accurate. Simply put, a country is more likely to pursue nuclear weapons technology if it has experienced recent conflict resulting in massive casualties. According to Dr. Kydd, statistical models are highly variable and require complex inputs that are themselves quite variable. Meanwhile, Dr. Yim claims that technology, financial capability and political motivation are the integral components that determine whether a country can and will attempt to develop nuclear technology. If one or more components are not sufficiently met, he says, pursuing and acquiring nuclear technology will not be possible.

All the presenters agreed that nuclear technology is essential as an alternative energy source in the future. International security in the form of recessed deterrence (acquiring the capability to build nuclear weapons without actually building them) and cheap, independent energy sources are strong motivations for nations to explore nuclear technology. As climate change is addressed more fully and the world realizes that there is a limited pool of resources, they say interest in and pursuit of nuclear technology will significantly increase.

Development of Plasma Facing Components for a Steady-State Fusion Reactor

Sergei Mirnov, TRINITI Laboratory, Troitsk, Russia

Hosted by Plasma Physics Seminar

Room 2301 Sterling HallSterling Hall (map)
Parking in Lot 11 (map)
Madison Metro Bus: (Plan your trip)
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For more information, contact Jane Schwantz at 262-3595 or at schwantz@wisc.edu
Additional event details: Click here