Day 1: The Darkest Secrets of the Universe
From the creation of elements in the periodic table to the death and consequent collapse of giant stars, Prof. Raja Guhathakurtha’s discussion on the Darkest Secrets of the Universe during our first Discovery Lecture covered out-of-this-world phenomenons. He passionately delved into the Milky Way galaxy’s undismissable role in the foundation of complex life, one that nitrogen, oxygen and carbon built from scratch. Nuclear fission is only a part of the puzzle; it fuses hydrogen into helium. An examination of the evolution of these elements in our galaxy followed, as he clarified that our ‘greedy’ sun doesn’t spit out the elements it created on its death like a blue-white star would. His insightful responses to our questions kept the lecture amusingly interactive. Despite our incessant doubts about the practicality of the Schrödinger’s cat thought-experiment, Prof. Guhathakurtha successfully extended observations in the quantum world to the macroscopic world we are familiar with and care about. The lecture undoubtedly made many gravitate toward mysteries of the expanding cosmos!
Day 2: Advanced Learning and Optimization of Smart Power Grids
Prof. Yu Zhang explored the mind-boggling nuances of matching the supply of power flow with its demand to maximize efficiency in our second Discovery Lecture. Despite the complexities of energy management and optimization, our over-reliance on electrical appliances necessitates this discussion. The historical debate between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison about alternating currents versus direct currents spiced up the lecture, prompting audience participation. Prof. Zhang also laid out the catastrophic consequences of blackouts and reasons for their occurrence. The ultimate solution, he claimed, is to wield all possible tools in our box to our advantage, including artificial intelligence for energy data collection, better system monitoring, and improved system reliability.
Day 3: What Happens After You Die: Natural History of Human Decomposition
Prof. Alison Galloway didn’t hesitate to fill her slides with ordinarily repulsive yet insanely interesting dead humans. In our third Discovery Lecture, “What Happens After You Die,” Prof. Galloway discussed essential life skills, such as how not to bury a human, what to expect from totally loyal dogs around their dead owners, and how to investigate crime. She revealed that deceptively cute scavengers, from rowdy raccoons and adorable possums to man’s best friend all want one thing: food, regardless of its source, looks or aroma. The gases and chemicals released by rotting corpses invite these critters (and maggots) to feast, recycling the nutrients stored in dead bodies for the benefit of entire ecosystems. The room echoed with equal parts fascination, shock and anxiety as we discovered that our beloved pets would hardly hesitate to gobble up our dead remains. Prof. Galloway’s humorous forensic adventures (that feel when the law mixes up homicide with a raccoon attack) encouraged us to investigate death and decomposition, normally somber serious affairs, with an ever-curious mind.
Day 4: Semiconductor Materials and Device Engineering
Prof. Michael Oye of Cluster 10 began our day with a little pop quiz on what semiconductors are. We learned that semiconductors could be elements, like silicon and germanium, or compounds, like gallium arsenide and gallium nitride. These substances are special in that we can control when they conduct electricity. Then, Prof. Oye went in-depth into the processing of silicon into a transistor that we can use in our everyday technology. Sand, which is partially composed of silicon dioxide, is heated with carbon (e.g. wood) to extract the silicon as a wafer. Prof. Oye then showed us images of spin coating the wafer with photoresist, photolithography, and plasma etching. The process of creating a transistor repeats these steps countless numbers of times. With computer chips having billions of transistors (Apple’s M1 Ultra chip has a whopping 114 billion transistors!), we were in awe at the scale of transistor production. As Prof. Oye wrapped up his presentation with discussions on what defines “device” and “engineering,” we were left with a new appreciation for the work that goes into the laptops and mobile devices in our bags.
Day 5: X-ray and Neutron Scattering Techniques for the Study of Atomic and Magnetic Structures
Prof. David Belanger refreshingly redefined research “for the sake of curiosity” in our fifth Discovery Lecture, featuring magnetism, X-ray scattering and intimidating research defense committees. From Rosalind Franklin’s contribution to the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure in 1952 to current explorations at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Prof. Belanger explained the ageless curiosities about the micro- and nano-world. After a brief overview of magnetism in crystals, Prof. Belanger explored lattice structure and giant magnetoresistance as he considered Lanthanum cobaltite (LaCoO3), a compound with peculiar properties. We gaped in fascination as he twisted his homemade 2D model of the octahedral connections within the compound’s lattice structure. The unusual characteristics of this compound can be exploited to create voltage controlled logic devices, but only below room temperature. He hopes we uncover a material that has magnetism that can be turned on and off at room temperature soon.
These articles were written by Chahak Gupta, Gordon Chen and Litong Deng