November 7th, 3-4pm in Hugel 100
Dr. Matthew Eckelman will discuss our intimate personal relationships with consumer products.
Many of us spend more time with our computers than we do with our families or friends. And yet we have little knowledge of where our beloved gadgets come from, how they are made, and what happens to them after we throw them “away” – their technological life cycle. These questions are critical for engineers and designers of green technologies as we strive to make products more efficient and less harmful. This lecture will uncover some of the hidden world of material supply chains and industrial production, to explore how changes in product design or specifications can have unintended, indirect consequences, and how this information is being used to make smarter engineering decisions.
Sponsored by: The Lafayette Forum on Technology and the Liberal Arts with Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, International Affairs, Environmental Studies/Science, and the Provost’s Office