Talk by Prof. Jennifer R. Lukes (Penn Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics)
The management of heat is a central challenge in many domains, impacting automotive fuel economy, clean water production, nuclear, coal, and solar energy, human health, Earth’s climate, and electronic system reliability. My group studies how heat can be controlled to enable new advances in power generation, water harvesting, and temperature regulation. Specifically, we seek to engineer the structure of materials and interfaces at the nanoscale to create new thermal behaviors that promote enhanced performance in the above domains. In this talk I will present an overview of recent computer modeling work in my group that connects nanoscale structure to thermal conduction, vapor condensation, and one-way heat transport. I will also discuss the broader societal implications of our work.