Urbanism, sustainability, and other structural challenges that many American cities are facing will be discussed at this week’s UT Science Forum.
Philip Enquist, UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair, will talk about the future of city development and the urban transformations expected to occur in the next century. His lecture, titled “The Century of Cities,” begins at noon on Friday, October 24, in Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Science Forum is a weekly lunchtime series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.
Free and open to the public, each Science Forum consists of a forty-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or purchase it at the cafe in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest, an initiative to raise awareness of the research, scholarship, and creative activity happening on campus.
Enquist, who is also the leader of the city design practice at Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, will emphasize carbon neutrality and the human experience during his talk. Urbanism can reduce resource consumption, build up disaster resiliency, and improve the quality of life.
Enquist earned his master’s degree in architecture from the University of Southern California. He was honored with the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Architectural Guild of USC’s School of Architecture for his dedication to strengthening the infrastructure of cities.
The weekly Science Forum continues with:
October 31—Stefan Spanier, professor of physics, will talk on “Searching for New Forces with the Large Hadron Collider.”
November 7—Omer Onar, Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow at ORNL, will discuss “Electric Vehicles without Plugging In.”
November 14—Tim Isbel, Anderson County Commissioner, will speak on “A Vision for Rocky Top’s Coal Creek Miners Museum.”
November 21—Steven Ripp, research associate professor at the Center for Environmental Biotechnology, will talk about “Catch of the Day: Tiny Zebrafish in the Big Pharmaceutical Pond.”