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Interdisciplinary Research at MIT: Making Uncommon Connections

Alice Gast Rosalind H. Williams HM Sallie (Penny) Chisholm Moungi G. Bawendi Alexander H. Slocum '82, SM '83, PhD '85: May 3, 2005; Running Time: 1:48:53

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

“The Multidisciplinary Forest of MIT: From Twigs to Canopy"
MIT’s 19th century founders stunningly anticipated the 20th century convergence of science and technology, Rosalind Williams notes, with their emphasis on knowledge of both natural laws and applied engineering. The connection between the two different disciplines, says Williams, was “something new in history.” Scientific understanding had previously been “aristocratic, elitist, intellectual, and…speculative.” Technology had been “more lower class, empirical and action-oriented.” MIT’s approach was to meld engineering with pure science, and then, after World War 2, to broaden engineering by connecting with the social sciences. Today, MIT has become a “pioneer in deep ‘multidisciplinarity’,” says Williams, enabled to address key human problems involving science, technology and society.

"Marine Microbes: Tiny Cells, Global Impact"
Please don’t confuse Penny Chisholm’s beloved Prochlorococcus, (a marine microbe) with your run of the mill bacterium, or worse, with some dreaded pathogen. This species of phytoplankton, discovered in 1985, turns out to be a biological superstar. As Chisholm says, “My organism is extremely important.” Prochlorococcus, existing in abundance in much of the world’s oceans, is a remarkable biological pump. It and fellow phytoplankton suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and engage in “almost as much photosynthesis as trees and plants on land,” says Chisholm. We must begin to look at the sea “as teaming with information,” remarks Chisholm, with microbes “shaping the composition of the atmosphere, seawater and habitability of the earth itself.”

“Tiny Crystals: The Path From Science to Technology"
Trial and error played a large role in the evolution of Moungi Bawendi’s field, which emerged from research in different disciplines: the search for solar energy during the energy crisis of the 1970s; making smaller semiconductors; constructing lasers for products like CD players. Physical chemists, manipulating tiny particles in different solutions, saw them grow “like snowflakes” into different shapes, says Bawendi. Some of these particles emitted different colors of light. Researchers developed fluorescent microspheres, particles made out of silica, that emit specific colors. Today these tiny balls can be used to image blood flow to detect leaks in tumor walls. Apply a current and the balls go in different directions. “These are the kinds of discoveries that grad students stumble on if they work late at night,” says Bawendi. Nanocrystal quantum dot lasers make “beautiful colors for computers,” and biologists can use these quantum dots for color coding DNA chains in gene assays and possibly for biomedical imaging in living organisms.

“Big Iron to Little Silicon”
After a poetic tribute to his colleagues, Alex Slocum performs what he calls “a high speed download.” He speaks of the different paths to invention, from sitting at a CAD station, to heading off for a mountain hike. He sketches the idea of a “nanotube spinneret, analogous to a showerhead.” Slocum’s goal “is to wear the first Hawaiian shirt made from nanotubes.” Slocum’s work is living proof of his motto: “Science doesn’t have to be boring.” He designs “stuff from silicon wafers to bottles,” to lighter wind turbines and nodes for pool noodles. Slocum views the design process as a way to have fun with math—an approach he’d dearly like to promulgate. He’s pursuing an educational system for grade schools that aims to teach “systematic thinking and the scientific method” using rhymes, bath songs and computer animations.

Lecture Details

Location: Kirsch Auditorium 32-123

About the Speakers

Alice Gast

Vice President for Research and Associate Provost Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering

Gast came to MIT in 2001. Previously, she was the associate chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. Gast earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Rosalind H. Williams HM

Robert M. Metcalfe Professor of Writing Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Society

Rosalind Williams came to MIT in 1980 as a research fellow in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. From 1991 to 1993 she served as Associate Chair of the MIT Faculty, and from 1995 to 2000 as Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education. Her latest book, Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change (MIT Press, 2002) draws upon her experiences as a historian and MIT dean to comment upon our “technological age.” She is President-elect, Society for the History of Technology.

Williams receibed her M.A. in Modern European History from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Sallie (Penny) Chisholm

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Biology;
Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies
Director, MIT Earth System Initiative

In addition to her other appointments, Penny Chisholm currently serves as co-director of Terrascope, an MIT learning community for freshmen. She is also a visiting scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. From 1988-1995, she served as the MIT Director of the MIT/Woods Hole Joint Program in Oceanography.

Chisholm received the 2005 Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science, and is a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator in Marine Science. She has published papers in PNAS and Nature. She received her Ph.D. in Biology in 1974 from S.U.N.Y. Albany.

Moungi G. Bawendi

Professor of Chemistry

Bawendi studies nanometer-size fragments of semiconducting inorganic solids. He has published in Physical Review Letters 2002 and Advanced Materials. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1988.

Alexander H. Slocum '82, SM '83, PhD '85

Professor of Mechanical Engineering MacVicar Faculty Fellow

Slocum's research encompasses nanotechnology, precision engineering, and machine and product design. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the S.M.E. Earl E. Walker Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He received his PH.D.from MIT in 1985.

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