Empowering STEM-based solutions to Environmental Issues

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• The set of students engaging in PHYS 105/106/207 can bring unique, STEM-based perspectives to our shared IWU GreeNetwork, an action-oriented open group for members of our community who are interested in Environmental issues. Some of our students interested in Architectural/Structural/Civil Engineering have been particularly involved in our on-campus projects. The next big one will have to do with co-generation of energy, though our on-campus GreeNetwork.
• Our Natural Science Colloquium series, and other on-campus events, will include speakers who will excite Physics-oriented students about putting their talents to work towards developing STEM-based solutions to Energy, Climate, and Environmental issues.
• Field trips are possible, if there is sufficient clamoring for them, to nearby facilities of relevance, such as the EDP Renewables training facility or the Ameren Microgrid facility that integrates (intermittent) renewable energy sources including wind and solar with backup strategies such as natural gas turbines and battery-based storage facilities. In town, the EDP Renewables Training Facility is used for training wind power workers from around the country, while other sites of interest include Ecology Action Center, Rivian Automotive, AutonomouStuff, Caterpillar, G3 Machining, the Bridgestone tire manufacturing facility, the State Farm Crash Lab, Zentech, Inc. (formerly CAMtek), the Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab, or FermiLab.

• As a dual-degree student, from the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2012 combined his Physics major with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a co-op with GE Energy, before going to work for PositivEnergy Practice (PEP), which was formed based on a vision for a sustainable future and a commitment to environmentally responsible design for new and existing buildings and human environments. Currently, he works at a company called Diligent Design.
• A Physics and Economics double major from the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2010, went on to earn his PhD in Energy Engineering & Public Policy, at Penn, where he focused on electricity load management with focus of reducing transmission losses. He is now Senior Energy Analyst for Darmark Energy Advisors (and encouraged his cousin to become an incoming Physics major in our Class of 2022).
• A student from the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2010 combined his Physics major with a masters degree in Physical Oceanography (studying global climate change), and was then hired by the US Navy as a Nuclear Scientist in the field of Radiation Control, though he has also done Acoustic Engineering for them.
• A physics major from the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2006 worked on single-molecule spectroscopy on live cells, a tool that could be used to understand a number of environmental impacts. She used this as a springboard toward earning her combined MD-PhD
• A physics major of the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2009 had environmental internships at IWU, working on our own environmental plans. From that experience he was able to reach out to the surrounding city governments. "I successfully proposed and lobbied for and a city-wide composting program for both Bloomington and Normal (pop. ~165,000), completed a green building best practices study for the University, and performed field work testing water in local streams and rivers." Now an Environmental Engineer, one of his example projects required him to model a contaminant plume and assess the trends from ten years of data to determine the extent to which specific contaminants naturally attenuate over time.
• As a dual-degree student, of the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2008 combined his Physics major with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a co-op with the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center. He now works on Energy Systems for CG Power.
• Another Physics major, dual-degree student from the Class of 2008 is now an (Environmental) Insight Analyst & Associate Product Manager for EnerNOC
• On the other hand, another student from the same class directly entered the workforce, with just his Physics degree, and was hired by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, and after one month was promoted. After one year, they paid him to go for his Masters degree, and since he enjoyed that he continued on and just earned his PhD, all while keeping his job as a Physicist + Environmental Engineer. Even before completing his PhD, he was appointed as Chief of the Energy Branch of the Army Corps of Engineers, but has, this past month, moved over to become Director of the International Research Office for the Army Corps of Engineers. (By the way, he is a civilian.)
• From the same class, another Physics major went on to one of our partner, dual-degree institutions, where he helped to design a solar-powered house, and now works as a Structural Engineer for Anvil Corporation.
• From the Class of 2007, another student combined her Physics degree with graduate work in Mechanical Engineering, and is now on the faculty at Michigan Tech, where her work involves studies of alternative fuel technologies.
• A Physics major from the Illinois Wesleyan Class of 2006, worked on developing algorithms and technologies for real-time responsive radiation therapies (i.e., compensating for scattering, the motion of tumors due to patient breathing, etc.). — That work helped him to earn his PhD, after which he first went to work for Amgen, a large biotech firm in California, alongside someone he began collaborating with while he was doing research in my lab at Illinois Wesleyan. From there, he helped to launch a San Francisco-based startup recently featured by the Wall Street Journal.
• A 2006 grad began working, while still a Physics undergrad at IWU, with folks at the IBM Almaden Research center on spintronics theory and memory applications. He also did work on magneto-optics and optical trapping. He went on to work in the Cornell Nanophotonics group on the harnessing the novelties afforded by silicon photonic structures with respect to light matter interactions, electro-optics and non-linear optics. He then launched a start-up company that has raised more than $ 30 Million in venture capital.
• A 2005 Physics grad did research involving nanoparticles for next-generation solar cell devices, and received his PhD at Colorado School of Mines. He went on to post-doctoral work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and now works on these light-matter interactions with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Boulder, Colorado.
• Following a PhD at Yale, another 2005 Physics grad is now a ”Materials Chemistry and Physics of Energy Systems Postdoctoral Fellow" working on nanomaterials at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
• From the Class of 2004, another student combined his double major in Physics and Chemistry with graduate studies that landed him a job leading a $ 500 million biofuel project for BP.

• Science News magazine
• Quanta magazine (Physics, Mathematics, Biology, and CS)
• Institute of Physics (IoP): Physics World News, explicitly highlighting Climate and Environmental Issues.
  IoP also publishes the European Journal of Physics
• American Physical Society (APS): Physics: Spotlighting Exceptional Research
• Optical Society of America (OSA): Optics & Photonics News (Photovoltaics and solar power, lasers, advanced imaging and communications, emerging Quantum 2.0 technologies, etc.)
• Materials Research Society (MRS)
• Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers: IEEE Spectrum, highlighting their collection of projects relating to Energy and the Environment
• Chemical & Engineering News
• Core77
• The journal Science (AAAS)
• The journal Nature
• SlashDot: News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters
• American Institute of Physics (AIP): Physics Today