Exploration of Energy, Heat, and Water from Nano to Macro: The Untold Stories of Explorers
对能源、热量和水从纳米尺度到宏观的探索及其背后不为人知的故事
Gang Chen（陈刚）
ABSRACT
Scientific and technological progresses are made with the dedication of researchers who overcome failures, challenge authorities, and dare to try new things. This talk will share stories on researchers with whom the speaker worked, in their pursuit to understand how heat transports at nanoscale, and to invent new solutions in energy and clean water domains. Over 90% of human’s energy consumption and utilization involves heat. Despite conventional wisdom that heat is well-understood, the talk will show that established physical laws governing heat transport often break down and many new phenomena emerge at micro and nanoscales. The talk will discuss how to leverage fundamental understanding to generate innovative ideas: turning polymers into heat conductors, energy efficient fabrics for human comfort and building efficiency, and waste water treatment and desalination. By sharing stories on how researchers struggled and triumphed, how ideas are generated and failed, the speaker hopes to inspire young people to join the exciting journey and invent the future.
科学技术上点点滴滴的进步，都是科研人员不断克服失败、挑战权威、勇于尝试新事物的结果。这次演讲中我将分享与我一起在纳米热传输以及能源和清洁水领域开展科研探索的科研人员及其背后不为人知的故事。人类超过90%的能源消耗和利用都涉及到热量.虽然在传统的观点中我们普遍觉得有关热的认识已经非常全面。但这次演讲我首先将向大家阐述，在微米和纳米尺度，其实那些控制热传输的现有物理定律经常会失效，同时有许多新的现象出现。然后，我将分享我们是如何利用基础知识来产生创新的想法的，比如，将聚合物转化为导热体，用节能又舒适衣服来提高建筑效率，废水处理和海水淡化等等。我希望通过分享科研人员在探索过程中从苦苦追求到成功，及想法的产生和失败的故事，激励更多年轻人加入这激动人心的科学探索旅程、创造美好未来。
BIOGRAPHY
Gang Chen is currently Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 2013 to 2018, he served as the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He served as the director of the “Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)”, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy. He obtained his doctor degree from the Mechanical Engineering Department, UC Berkeley, bachelor and master degrees from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He was a faculty member at Duke University and UCLA, before joining MIT in 2001. Professor Chen has supervised over 70 M.S. and PhD students thesis and over 60 post-docs and visiting scholars. Nearly 50 of his former PhD students and post-docs are in faculty members around the world. He received an NSF Young Investigator Award, an R&D 100 award, an ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award and an Frank Kreith Energy Award, a Nukiyama Memorial Award by the Japan Heat Transfer Society, a World Technology Network Award in Energy, an Eringen Medal from the Society of Engineering Science, and the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellences in Mentoring and Advising from MIT, and named as the Outstanding Alumnus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is a fellow of American Physical Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for Advancement of Science, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Engineering.
陈刚博士，现任麻省理工学院Carl Richard Soderberg教授。他在加州大学伯克利分校机械工程系获得博士学位，在华中科技大学获得学士、硕士学位。2001年加盟麻省理工学院之前，他曾在杜克大学和加州大学洛杉矶分校任教。陈刚教授2013年至2018年担任麻省理工学院机械工程系主任。他曾担任美国能源部资助的“固态太阳能-热能转换中心(S3TEC)”的主任。陈教授指导了硕士、博士论文70余篇，博士后、访问学者60余人，在他指导的博士生和博士后中有近50人在世界各地任教。
他曾获得诸多重要奖项，如美国国家科学基金会的青年研究员奖、研发100强、美国机械工程师协会传热纪念奖和弗兰克·克雷斯能源奖、日本传热学会的国际热科学纪念奖Nukiyama 纪念奖、全球技术网络奖（能源）、美国工程科学学会Eringen奖章,表彰麻省理工学院杰出导师的Capers和Marion McDonald奖章，华中科技大学杰出校友，等等。
陈刚教授是美国物理学会、美国机械工程师学会、美国科学促进会和古根海姆基金会的会士。他是美国艺术与科学学院和美国国家工程学院的院士。