Page 13 - ASME HT FE ICNMM 2016 Program

Plenary Sessions

budget, and policy. Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. leave from ASU he served as the Director of the NSF Thermal Transport
Majumdar was the Almy and Agnes Maynard Chair Professor of Mechani- Processes Program from 2006 to 2008. He is again on leave from ASU,
cal Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University and through July 2016 is serving as the Program Manager for Emerging
of California, Berkeley and the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Technologies in the Building Technologies Office, Energy Efficiency and
and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy.
career includes the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and
devices as well as large engineered systems. Dr. Majumdar is a member of
the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts PLENARY TITLE: THE BENEFITS OF BEING
and Sciences. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the US THIN: HOW ULTRATHIN MEMBRANES WILL
Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board and is also a Science Envoy for the REVOLUTIONIZE BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
US Department of State with focus on energy and technology innovation (ICNMM)
in the Baltics and Poland. He is a member of the Councils of the National
Academy of Engineering, the Electric Power Research Institute, as well as DATE/TIME: TUESDAY, JULY 12, 8:30 AM – 10:10 AM
the Science Board of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and Room: Regency BC
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is a member of the International Presenter:
Advisory Panel for Energy of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry
and the US delegation for the US-India Track II dialogue on climate
James McGrath, University of Rochester
change and energy. Dr. Majumdar received his bachelor's degree in
Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in
1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.

Session Description:
PLENARY TITLE: IMPACT OF THERMAL Nearly a decade after we first used silicon microfabrication to create
ENGINEERING RESEARCH ON BUILDING free-standing ultrathin nanoporous membranes, the materials are
ENERGY EFFICIENCY (ICNMM) beginning to realize their potential to create paradigm shifts in multiple
DATE/TIME: MONDAY, JULY 11, 2:00 – 3:40 PM disciplines. Today, as a team of more than two dozen faculty, students,
entrepreneurs, and engineers at multiple academic institutions and one
Room: Regency BC
company, we manufacture and apply a variety of nanoporous and
Presenter: microporous membranes with the common characteristics that they are
ultrathin (15 nm - 300 nm) and made from silicon-containing materials.
Patrick Phelan, Arizona State University Because these 'nanomembranes' are orders-of-magnitude thinner than
conventional membranes, they are orders-of-magnitude more permeable
to both diffusing molecules and pressurized flow. Molecular scale thickness
also enhances the resolution of separations when the membranes are
used as sieves. High permeability and high resolution sieving, as well as
Session Description: other expected and unexpected characteristics of nanomembranes, have
Buildings consume approximately 40% of the primary energy around the sparked research programs on topics as disparate as electroosmotic
world, and thermal processes are responsible for a significant fraction of pumps and hemodialysis. This talk will first review our progress in
that energy. Thermal engineering research, therefore, plays a crucial role establishing the basic science of ultrathin porous membranes. Through
to reduce building energy consumption and thereby reduce associated modeling and experimentation we have developed a fundamental
greenhouse gas emissions. This report attempts to estimate the quantita- understanding of convective and diffusive flows, sieving behavior, fouling,
tive impacts of improved thermal transport in the buildings sector, such as mechanics, and electrokinetic properties. We will then review progress on
more effective heat exchangers, improved HVAC cycles, better thermal each of four major applications areas that have emerged as nanomem-
insulation materials and windows, etc. The objective here is, first of all, to branes have become reliably manufactured and affordable in recent years:
encourage more research & development activity in this vital area. The 1) biological separations, 2) electromechanical devices, 3) barrier tissue
second objective is to provide examples of how the broader impacts of models and 4) biosensors. Of all the applications we are currently pursuing,
research can be quantified and described so that stakeholders without none holds greater promise for improving the human condition than the
deep expertise can appreciate and value the research. development of a wearable device for continuous hemodialysis. While
much work remains until this disruptive technology is used to dramatically
Speaker Bio: improve the life of patients with end-stage-renal disease, proof-of-principle
Patrick Phelan received his BS degree from Tulane University in New data in rats has been achieved. The inspired pursuit of this 'medical moon
Orleans, his MS degree from MIT, and his PhD from UC Berkeley, all in shot' is also generating spin-off technology and know-how that is
mechanical engineering. Following a two year post-doctoral fellowship at enhancing the use of nanomembranes in other applications.
the Tokyo Institute of Technology, he started his academic career as an
Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii in 1992. In 1996 he moved Speaker Bio: 13
to Arizona State University (ASU), where he is a Professor of Mechanical & James McGrath is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University
Aerospace Engineering, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist. While on of Rochester. He holds degrees from MIT in both Mechanical Engineering