MIT Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Joint Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Computing Fabrics
Fabrics cover a truly valuable real estate – the surface of our bodies.
Exposed to troves of data, important health insights would be revealed
if only fabrics could compute: sense, store, analyze, infer, alert, and act
while retaining their aesthetics, comfort, and resilience. A fiber-centric
blueprint for appreciating fabrics will be presented leading to the
transformation of fabrics from a “goods” to a “services and
experiences” industry.
The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is the largest space telescope
ever constructed, and will extend humanities’ high definition view of the universe into the infrared spectrum. The
Webb will observe early epochs of the universe that the Hubble cannot see to reveal how its galaxies and structure
have evolved over cosmic time. The Webb will explore how stars and planetary systems form and evolve and will
search exoplanet atmospheres for evidence of life. The Webb’s science instrument payload includes four sensor
systems that provide imagery, coronagraphy, and spectroscopy over the near- and mid-infrared spectrum. NASA
developed the JWST in partnership with the European and Canadian Space Agencies, with science observations
proposed by the international astronomical community in a manner similar to the Hubble. Launch of the Webb
occurred during 25 December 2021. The Webb is currently undergoing in-flight commissioning in preparation for
the start of science operations.
Short biography:
http://jwst.nasa.gov/meet-greenhouse.html
Distributed fiber optic sensing to realize smart infrastructure
Recent advances in sensor systems offer intriguing possibilities to radically alter the condition assessment methods of our infrastructure systems. Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS) is one of the promising tools for structure health monitoring. Rich data obtained from such systems can act as a catalyst for new design, construction, operation and maintenance processes. The quantification of system resilience is a challenge for both stakeholders and service providers in the civil engineering industry. However, describing the contributions in a way that brings the provider and consumer together is critical to the widespread adoption of emerging technologies developed for improving infrastructure resilience. This talk introduces the recent advances in DFOS technologies for infrastructure sensing, identifies several barriers to adoption, and proposes a methodology that systematically explores how DFOS can contribute to systems resilience.