Creating affordable, clean energy and combatting climate change are two of the United Nations’ goals for sustainable development. The theme of my series of gatherings will involve examples of how semiconductor materials and devices can contribute to these goals, since they can be exploited for energy conservation and conversion. Each semester’s gathering will revolve around a different technology that students may already know something about from daily life, such as solar cells, electric vehicles, energy-efficient indoor lighting, or computing. We will focus on the role that semiconductors play in these technologies, typically involving discussion with a guest with complementary expertise, a site visit, or a hands-on activity.

The Supreme Court has always been a focus of political controversy, going back to the earliest days of the United States, since its decisions impact so many aspects of American life. More recently, particularly in 2000 and 2020, the Court has been asked to adjudicate key questions about elections—in effect, to determine winners and losers. We will look at significant recent cases and what the Court might see in the near future, and discuss how Americans view the Court and its decisions.

In the fall we will look at the challenges of communicating scientific discoveries during a pandemic. The topics of discussion will include a) the lessons learnt during the COVID pandemic, b) rapidly developing technologies and the socioeconomic communication gaps, c) the role of social media and d) broadly discuss how scientists, health professionals and media can work together to disseminate accurate information. In the spring we will discuss the opportunities and threats presented by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The advancement of machine learning and AI tools create new possibilities in healthcare, education, innovation, arts and other areas. Despite this, large-scale adoption of AI gives rise to concerns about safety, trust, computation power, job loss, ethics, etc.

Prof. Peng’s research is about quality and supply chain issues in health care—in the college setting we often focus on the research or interpersonal aspects of medicine, but health care is also a product and an exceptionally complex one. How is health care “produced” in the United States, and how can that production be improved? He plans to offer one on-campus dinner in the fall and a field trip in the spring to look at this vitally important issue.

Professor Rubio is a scholar of ancient Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East in general. In an era that privileges “useful” knowledge towards professional goals, he will lead discussions about how he became interested in such a unique field to the point of devoting his career to it, and what we can learn about science, economy, law, politics, and society by studying ancient civilizations.

Dr. Shi’s background and work are highly interdisciplinary, drawing insights from public policy, economics, management, information systems, and rural health, to address challenges in health care. Dr. Shi plans to organize a series of conversations and events to show how different fields (including engineering, data science, political science, business, and the liberal arts) can all contribute to health care in significant ways, and how health care can be an exciting part of one’s career, regardless of the chosen major.

Dr. Tan will promote dinner discussions among Schreyer Scholars on a variety of topics including the ethics of inventions and discoveries, and the role of competition in scientific discoveries.  We will start by watching a 45 to 60 min movie segment or television program to provide the appropriate context for both science and non-science majors.  We will then discuss in the next hour issues explicitly or implicitly contained in the video program.