Housing Session Speakers
| Name | Richard LeSar |
| Title | Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University |
| Speech Title | Teaching Sustainable Engineering |
| Abstract | Teaching young engineers about sustainable engineering requires more than a discussion about technological solutions to specific challenges. Engineering is just one piece of what is needed to create a sustainable society. In this talk we will discuss an approach to helping students see how engineering fits into a sustainable future. Our strategy involves a mix of courses, from standard lecture-driven classes to hands-on experiences in the developing world. |
| Bio | Richard LeSar earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Michigan and a masters in physics and Ph. D. in chemical physics from Harvard University. He spent the next twenty-plus years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a staff scientist, with a few stints in management along the way. He joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University in 2006 as Professor and Chair of the department. His research is in computational materials science. His group is currently focused on a number of problems, ranging from dislocation-based plasticity to grain stability at high temperatures to polymers and biomaterials. Since coming to Iowa State, Professor LeSar has focused on the development of curricula to prepare undergraduate engineering students to meet the challenges of the 21st century. He co-teaches an undergraduate course on appropriate technology in Mali as well as a companion course held at Iowa State. He is developing new campus-wide classes and degrees on sustainability. He heads a task force on Materials for the Developing World for the Materials Research Society and serves on the Materials and Society committee of the TMS. |
