A member of the White House advisory council will tour and speak at Boise State University Thursday, Feb. 23, about clean energy and the importance of advanced materials in today’s global market.
Cyrus Wadia will tour Boise State’s materials science department and meet with university administrators to discuss the Materials Genome Initiative, a multi-stakeholder effort to develop an infrastructure to accelerate materials discovery and deployment. The initiative was launched by President Obama in June to address the long timeframes for incorporating advanced materials into practice. It is an effort to create a new materials-innovation infrastructure, drive achievement of national goals with advanced materials, and prepare the next-generation materials workforce.
Wadia also will speak at a public lecture about the important role materials science plays today and in the future as it relates to clean energy. The lecture is at 1:30 p.m., Feb 23, in the Student Union Simplot Ballroom on the Boise State campus. A “meet and greet” will immediately follow the lecture. Parking is available in the Lincoln Avenue Parking Garage.
“This initiative offers a unique opportunity for the United States to discover, develop, manufacture and deploy advanced materials at least twice as fast as currently possible at a fraction of the cost,” Wadia said. “I will describe the interagency and White House roles in delivering this vision and plot a path forward for execution across all stakeholders, including work at Boise State.”
Wadia is the assistant director for clean energy and materials research and development with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he advises the president on federal policy that accelerates innovation and deployment of advanced material systems for energy, national security and human welfare.
Wadia is on leave from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and the Haas School of Business, where he holds a dual appointment as faculty and co-director of clean tech to market and research scientist. His research in both exhaustible resource economics and the chemistry of nanoparticles is motivated by the pursuit of new low-cost energy technologies using earth materials. Cyrus was recently honored for his work with earth-abundant nanoparticle solar cells with the MIT Technology Review Young Innovator award.
Wadia earned his doctorate in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds both a master’s and bachelor’s in chemical engineering from MIT.
-30-
Media contact: Matt Pene, University Communications, (208) 426-4910, MattPene@boisestate.edu
About Boise State University
As an emerging metropolitan research university of distinction, Boise State University plays a crucial role in the region’s economic development and famed quality of life. Idaho’s largest institution of higher education offers nearly 200 degrees and certificates in seven colleges. While remaining committed to the strong teaching legacy that has resulted in 11 Idaho Professor of the Year awards since 1990, Boise State’s added emphasis on innovation and creativity is fueling the fastest growing research program in Idaho.
