Jelena Vučković, a professor at Stanford University, gave the 2021 Mildred S. Dresselhaus lecture on “Inverse designed photonics: Are computers better than humans in designing photonics?” This annual lecture series by MIT.nano honors the late MIT professor Millie Dresselhaus.
Credits: Photo courtesy Evelyn Hu.
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Harvard University Professor Evelyn Hu opened the 2020 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture with a question: In an imperfect world, is perfection a necessary precursor for transformative advances in science and engineering?
Over the course of the next hour, for a virtual audience of nearly 300, the Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University argued that, at the nanoscale, there must be more creative ways to approach materials. By looking at what nature gives us in terms of electron energy levels, phonons, and a variety of processes, Hu said, scientists can re-engineer the properties of materials.