J. Iwan D. Alexander, Ph.D. – Faculty Director and Chair, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University
Friday February 18, 2011
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University
Sometimes people in the university study and talk about public policy. The Great Lakes Energy Institute is a case of activism. It promotes research on many energy policy challenges, but its participants also work to build organizations and coalitions to put research to use.
The Institute’s topics include energy storage, improving electric grids, wind energy, fuel cells, solar energy materials, improving the efficiency of engines, and carbon capture. One example is how to build foundations for wind turbines that are located in fresh water that (as one may notice a few miles away) can freeze.
There is a lot to hear about and a lot to discuss, so please join us to learn more about one of CWRU’s most important initiatives.
There will be no parking available in the visitors parking lot next to Crawford Hall on Friday February 25, 2011. On other Fridays a few spaces are available for visitors with mobility concerns. Parking options for visitors from beyond campus include the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard, the small lot on Adelbert Road just uphill from Euclid Ave, and other lots on campus.
More About Our Guest….
Dr. J. Iwan D. Alexander is the Cady Staley Professor of Engineering and Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and since 2007 has been the faculty director of CWRU’s Great Lakes Energy Institute. Dr. Alexander’s research interests cover a number of topics including computational fluid dynamics, wind turbine aeroacoustics and wake dynamics, wind farm layout optimization, the physics and mechanics of fluid interfaces, multiphase flow and transport, crystal growth and solidification. This work has produced over 120 refereed papers.
For the last fifteen years his research has included theoretical studies, computational simulations and experiments, particularly on those processes associated with materials preparation and also with fluid surface dynamics. He was also involved with 5 space experiments: three involving semiconductor crystal growth, one liquid diffusion experiment, and an acceleration measurement experiment. Dr. Alexander serves on a number of national committees, is an AIAA associate fellow and has chaired two Gordon Research Conferences.
From 2005-2010 Professor Alexander was the director of the National Center for Space Exploration Research (NCSER), a research center that is collocated at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The NCSER applies expertise in gravitational effects on fluids and combustion to assist the development of new and enabling technologies for NASA’s space exploration mission. Dr. Alexander was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in August 2008.
Under his leadership Case Western Reserve University established the ‘Great Lakes Institute for Energy Innovation’ in 2007. The purpose of the institute is to develop, through farsighted energy research and energy-use strategies, innovative energy technology platforms that will provide low cost, reliable and sustainable energy.
Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
February 25: Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services, CWRU: “Case Recycles,” and How That Works.
March 4: Shirley M. Moore, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing: Even After a Heart Attack – The Challenge of Encouraging Healthy Behavior
March 11: No Session, Spring Break
March 18: Special Inamori Center Event, Howard Ernst, Associate Professor of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy, Dirty Water: A Critical Look at Regulatory, Cooperative, and Market-based Solutions to the Nation’s Growing Water Pollution Problem.
March 25: Mark Votruba, Associate Professor of Economics: The Social Effects of Economic Dislocation
April 1: Jacqueline Lipton, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Law, Technology and the Arts: Privacy and Online Social Networks.
April 8: Special Inamori Center Event.
April 15: Mark Naymik, Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio’s Budget Battle
April 22: Jon Groetzinger, Visiting Professor of Law and Director, China Legal Programs: Developing the Legal Profession in China.
The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. Overflow parking is also available in the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard.
Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.
For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.