Around the area: check out Van Cortlandt Park's Spring Planting or Columbia University's Events at Lamont-Doherty

Don't forget to check out the Quadrangle's Sustainability Issue

Approaches to chemistry are not always sustainable. It is important to consider how we can make the best use of the available resources taking into account abundance and environmental factors. These limitations govern not only what elements we use for novel materials, but also what approaches we may use for efficient energy conversion. While fossil fuels are conventionally considered an outdated and archaic way to produce energy, researchers search for more environment-friendly principles to generate energy. Thermoelectric materials can convert heat into electricity based on physical principles known to us as the Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect. Thermoelectrics are green and sustainable energy sources, useful for heat energy harvesting and cooling applications. An interesting feature of these materials is that they can be used to minimize the heat waste of traditional energy devices. Currently, the search for a novel thermoelectric material involves various approaches, from serendipitous discoveries to high-throughput, data-driven, and computational methods, which also will be discussed during the presentation. This seminar will introduce students to important concepts in energy and sustainability and discuss the current challenges in the search for advanced materials. The intended audience are undergraduate students in chemistry, physics, materials engineering, and related fields.