Post Qualifying Exam Wisdom

Yesterday I took the qualifying exam as part of a two part process in achieving PhD candidacy for Materials Science. It was brutal. But I will try not to worry about the scoring process now underway, and instead focus on what my adviser calls "the experience and not the test."

So here it is...my experience. In short, despite the humbling 5 hour examination, I would have to say my preparation brought immense wisdom. Over the last several months, I have taken a myriad of facts, figures, and frustrations and have melded them into a story that has never before made so much sense. It's incredible what the brain can do. I have never felt that I could offer so much perspective into a field that was new to me only a year ago.

You can ask me about the compositions of iron and carbon in steel or how glasses are made on another day. But for now, I would like to outline a few reflections (or rather, connections) on how I see this field changing sustainability for the future.

First, we will have to confront the rising challenge of waste disposal sometime soon. Our landfills are filling at alarming rates with a growing world population and toxic leachate poses serious risks to a limited water supply. For this problem, I see biodegradable materials such as plastic made from starches (left over corn stalks, for example) as a step towards reducing our most immediate and physical impact on the environment.

Second, household lighting accounts for some obscene amount of typical energy consumption-I'm not aware of what the percentage is, but its high. Yes, the government can subsidize the solar industry. But more effective would be if all the incandescent lights were replaced with compact fluorescent lights (CFL), and even better than that would be Light Emitting Diodes (LED). I'll spare you the intense science, but basically very little voltages are needed to power an LED, and it has the added bonus of not having a toxic metal like mercury hiding inside like in CFL's. Mercury = Bad.

Third, better heat transfer materials are needed. What's heat transfer? Say you go into your apartment in Florida and despite keeping the blinds closed all day, you find yourself perspiring by just sitting and watching Dr. Phil. That's bad (or I guess it would be good?) heat transfer. An ideal solution would be to have some really good insulating material (and I'm not talking about the toxic fiberglass asbestos stuff) that keeps your apartment or house at a constant temperature so you never have to use the heater or the air conditioner. Materials that do this best are air gaps filled with straw, clay, or if you really want to get crazy, find a way to put an aerogel or foam inside. This is what NASA uses to keep astronauts from burning on re-entry. it was also featured on Extreme Home Makeover.

Lastly, lets utilize more "smart materials." How can a material be smart...one might ask. (I subsequently envision a piece of stone reading a book...ok I'm lame). They are materials which you can do something to, and they do something for you in return. We already have them in wide use. They are used in gas grill ignitors (you push on the button and BAM fire! Yay!...the push creates voltage which lights the fuel), and bras. Yes, bras. Shape memory alloys are inserted around the cups for stability, yet they can stretch, deform, and still hold their shape. Amazing. But actually I think these materials have even greater potential. Let's put them in floor tiling so as we walk we can harvest the energy to light our homes (Explained here) Let's put them in our car cupholders (if you really really have to have a car), so the heat from our morning coffee can keep our MP3 player powered up (Just imagine this in reverse). We expend energy everyday doing typical tasks, so lets have something that can conserve that energy and not create excess demand for power plants.

You would be surprised at how close we are to incorporating some of these ideas into our normal lifestyle. As environmentalism goes mainstream and more chic, the economics will work out. If only I could draft my own questions for the qualifying exam...