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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260912T103000
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DTSTAMP:20261006T053142
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SUMMARY:A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space\, Should We Settle Space\, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Kelly Weinersmith\, Adjunct Professor at Rice University\nSponsored by California ACS Women Chemists Committee and AAUW California\n10:30 am-12:30 pm\, Online\, Free\, Registration required | Download Flyer (PDF)\n\nAbstract\nEarth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far\, far away—no climate change\, no war\, no X—beckons\, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? My co-author/husband and I are sci-fi geeks who set out to write a book about the glorious future of space settlements\, but after years of research\, we aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast\, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids\, build space farms\, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In this talk\, I’ll tackle questions like: Where are we most likely to settle? What will life in space be like? Is it safe to have babies in space? What is the future of bathrooms in space? What laws will govern humanity when we become interplanetary? Get in\, we’re going to Mars. \nSpeaker Bio\nDr. Kelly Weinersmith is an adjunct faculty member at Rice University. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic\, National Geographic\, BBC World\, Science\, Nature\, and more. Kelly co-wrote the New York Times bestsellers Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve And/Or Ruin Everything and A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space\, Should We Settle Space\, and Have We Really Thought This Through? In 2024\, she and her co-author/husband Zach received a Hugo Award and the Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize for A City on Mars. Kelly is also co-host of the podcast Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe. \nReservation\nPlease visit the CalACS website www.calacs.org to register for this meeting or use EventBrite. \nRSVP here! \nPlease register before Thursday\, September 10\, 2026\, 12 noon. Your email address is needed to send the Zoom link\, which will be shared with attendees on or before the day of the event via Eventbrite. \nCost\nFree! \nQuestions?\nPlease contact Elaine Yamaguchi at eyamaguchi08@gmail.com
URL:https://www.siliconvalleyacs.org/event/a-city-on-mars-can-we-settle-space-should-we-settle-space-and-have-we-really-thought-this-through/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Webinar
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261022T150000
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UID:23041-1792681200-1792684800@www.siliconvalleyacs.org
SUMMARY:Surface Chemistry of Supplementary Cementitious Materials: A Key Lever in Cement Decarbonization
DESCRIPTION:Sponsored by Southern California Section ACS\n3:00 pm-4:00 pm\, online\, free\, registration required\n\nReplacing a portion of Portland cement with locally sourced supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) is the most effective strategy to mitigate CO2 emissions and simultaneously reduce our reliance on imported minerals within the construction sector. However\, predicting the chemical reactivity of these complex materials remains an elusive challenge. Traditional bulk and uniparameter metrics\, such as metakaolin content or specific surface area\, frequently fail to explain significant discrepancies in reactivity between seemingly identical materials. \nThis talk proposes a fundamental paradigm shift away from traditional bulk properties toward surface chemistry\, lattice defects\, and atomic configurations. By utilizing synthetic clay minerals and innovative 29Si isotopic labeling\, our research group has achieved a 40x signal enhancement in solid-state NMR (ssNMR) experiments. This breakthrough enables precise\, unprecedented tracking of metakaolin dissolution and early-age hydration kinetics in cementitious systems. Furthermore\, we incorporate cutting-edge 4D-STEM (Four-Dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy) and zone axis orientation mapping to track the amorphization of aluminosilicate lattices upon calcination. Together\, these advanced tools provide the detailed structural insights required to develop accurate models and robust predictive frameworks for next-generation cements. \nAbout the Speaker\nProf. Franco Zunino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California\, Berkeley. His research centers on addressing the global sustainability challenges of construction materials\, with a primary focus on low-carbon cements\, supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs)\, and early-age cement hydration chemistry. His Science of Cementitious Materials (SCiM) Lab specializes in bridging fundamental material science with civil engineering applications by leveraging advanced\, multi-scale characterization tools\, including solid-state NMR (ssNMR) with isotopic labeling\, thermodynamic modeling\, and advanced electron microscopy techniques like 4D-STEM\, to explore material characteristics from atomic surfaces to structural performance. \nProfessor Zunino’s research has received widespread international recognition. He is a recipient of the 2026 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award\, which follows a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Starting Grant in 2024 and an SNSF Ambizione grant in 2022. His honors also include the 2023 RILEM Colonnetti Medal\, the 2022 American Concrete Institute (ACI) Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper\, and the global Nanocem 2020 Prize for the best doctoral thesis in cement and concrete science. He is also actively engaged in professional service and standardization leadership. He currently serves as Chair of the ACI 240.0A subcommittee on calcined clays\, secretary of the ACI 231 committee on early-age properties of concrete\, and chair of Workgroup 5 within the ASTM C09.24 subcommittee on reactivity. Additionally\, he is a member of the RILEM Educational Activities Committee (EAC) and serves on the Editorial Boards of Construction and Building Materials\, RILEM Technical Letters and as an Associate Editor in the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering.
URL:https://www.siliconvalleyacs.org/event/surface-chemistry-of-supplementary-cementitious-materials-a-key-lever-in-cement-decarbonization/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Webinar
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