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TechHorizons 2008 presents solutions for sustainability
Business leaders, academics and government representatives who attended
the Bourns College's two-day TechHorizons 2008 conference May 13-14
heard about many options to help preserve non-renewable resources
through new technology. Subtitled "Engineering a Sustainable future: New
Energy, New Materials, New Transportation," the conference presented
some of the most promising pproaches to challenges such as continually
rising fuel costs, the high cost of energy and the toll modern
lifestyles take on the environment.
The conference was divided into four technical sessions: Sustainable
Fuels, Advanced Materials, Solar Energy and Advanced Environmental
Technology. Each session included four brief presentations by UCR
faculty, local business leaders and representatives from Japan's Tohoku
University (located in Riverside's sister city of Sendai) who were in
town for the City of Riverside's IE Tech Week'08. After each presenter
talked, they joined to form a panel, fielding questions and concerns
from the audience.
Richard Moorer, Associate Under Secretary for Energy at the US
Department of Energy, delivered the keynote address at dinner Tuesday
evening. Moorer surveyed several decades of U.S. energy research and
federal policies effecting renewable energy sources. He presented an
optimistic assessment of a range of new technologies that would provide
a sustainable "mix" of energy resources without exacerbating other
problems. Cellulosic ethanol, in particular, like the full scale plant
being built in New Mexico by Viresco Energy, based on technology
developed at the Bourns College of Engineering, offers a most promising
path to cleaner fuels without adversely affecting food supplies.
During breaks in the presentations, guests were able to browse a poster
display of student research projects (pictured) and were encouraged to
act as judges. The winners received their awards at lunch on Wednesday.
Capturing first place was Xiaoye Jing; Jennifer Reiger Kyle received
second place; and two third places went to Haiwei Lu and Hayri Engin
Akin. Mirvat Ebrik was the winner in the postdoc division.
Riverside's Mayor Ron Loveridge gave concluding remarks at a luncheon on
Wednesday sponsored by the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic
Development (WIRED) program. WIRED brings engineering students and
business graduate students together to study what drives innovation
through a series of visits to California corporations. These students
were present at the conference, acting as guides and networking with
industry guests.
