“The Challenges in Getting to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions” by Prof Steven Chu
Throughout human history, multiple industrial and agricultural revolutions have profoundly transformed the world. However, the unintended consequence of these revolutions is that the greenhouse gas emissions are changing Earth’s climate. Most of our energy sources and many of the materials we use are based on fossil-fuel. The challenges on how to provide clean energy, water, air and food in a world of over 8 billion people and likely to grow to 11 billion by 2100 are formidable. After a brief summary of our current trajectory, I will discuss the current progress, opportunities and challenges needed to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions that will include food production and CO2 capture.
About the speaker [More info]
Steven Chu is a Professor of Physics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University. A recipient of 35 honorary degrees, he is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and eight foreign academies. Previously, he served as the US Secretary of Energy, where he launched the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) and the Energy Innovation Hubs, and played a pivotal role in helping BP stop the Macondo oil leak. He also directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and led a department at Bell Laboratories.
In 1997, Prof Chu was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on laser cooling and trapping of atoms. His other contributions span optical tweezers for biomolecules, atom interferometry, single-molecule biology, medical imaging, advancements in battery technology, and carbon dioxide capture.
“Compressing Proofs Using Cryptography” by Prof Yael Kalai
Imagine if you could take a proof and make it significantly shorter. In this talk, we will see how this can be done using cryptographic magic! We will begin with a brief overview of the evolution of proofs in computer science. We will then show how this beautiful theory, when combined with cryptographic methods, can be used to compress proofs.
About the speaker [More info]
Yael Tauman Kalai is the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She holds a BSc in Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an MS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and a PhD in Computer Science from MIT. Her accolades include the Outstanding Master's Thesis Prize from the Weizmann Institute of Science (2001) and the George M. Sprowls Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in Computer Science from MIT (2007).
Prof Kalai is the recipient of the 2022 ACM Prize in Computing for breakthroughs in verifiable delegation of computation and fundamental contributions to cryptography. She became a Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research in 2022.