February 4, 2014 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Mistaken Identity: Sikhs in America
Speaker: Rajinder Jutla, Professor, Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning
Although Sikhism ranks as fifth largest religion worldwide, many Americans are ignorant about Sikhs, they mistake them for Arabs and Muslims. This presentation will provide an overview of Sikhism in terms of its historical evolution, teachings, practices, and some of the problems faced by the community.
March 4, 2014 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Development of Nanomaterials for Applications in Energy Technology
Speaker: Kartik Ghosh, Professor, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science
In the 21st century one of the major problems the world faces is the scarcity of available energy resources, mainly in the form of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources and not environmentally friendly. Hence, finding renewable energy is an alternative solution to this global issue. Renewable energies appear in many commonly known forms such as solar, wind, and running water, and among them solar and hydro thermal energy show the greatest potential.
New concepts for solar and photo-catalytic cells with improved efficiency will require novel nanostructured photo-active semiconducting materials. Currently, we are developing high photo-active nanostructures of metal oxide-based materials, like zinc oxide and copper oxide. Our research activities address basic issues on growth and characterization of nanostructures and fabrication of devices using these nanomaterials. In this presentation, I will discuss how nanostructured materials are important in applications to energy technology, in particular to solar energy. I will also share some of our recent results on oxide-based nanostructures that can be used for future solar cell technology.