This week, we delve into the innovative realm of electron-conducting carbon concrete (EC^3), a revolutionary material that marries the structural capabilities of traditional concrete with advanced energy storage functions.

This next-generation concrete employs a unique blend of hydrophobic nano-carbons, binder, aggregate, and water, resulting in electron-conducting carbon network within the cement matrix. The EC^3 technology not only mitigates CO2 emissions typically associated with conventional battery and concrete production but also repurposes carbon black, a prevalent byproduct from, e.g., hydrogen production, thus contributing to a circular economy.

The presentation will showcase the practical applications of EC^3, from powering small electronic devices to its potential in large-scale energy storage solutions. We will highlight its crucial electro-chemical properties and explore its future applications. By integrating energy storage directly into construction materials, EC^3 technology paves the way for energy-autarkic shelters, self-charging roads, and more resilient power grids, fundamentally transforming how we approach sustainable construction and energy management.

Dr. Damian Stefaniuk serves as a Research Scientist within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub), and the MIT Electron-conductive Cement-based Materials Hub (EC^3 Hub). He is a structural and materials engineering scientist specializing in the development of sustainable construction materials and structures.

In his research he focuses on science-enabled engineering of sustainable cement-based materials, with applications ranging from designing corrosion-resistant prestressed bridge structures to exploring chemically induced pre-cure carbonation for carbon storage and developing electron-conductive carbon concrete for renewable energy storage. The overall goal of his research is to make civil engineering infrastructure part of the solution of the urgently needed energy transition while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions associated with cement production.

Protecting our oceans is vital, and robotics paired with AI is making a real impact.

Advanced robotic systems tackle pollution, clean hard-to-reach areas, and collect important data on water quality. These technologies empower communities to organize effective cleanup efforts with less manpower. By leveraging innovation, we’re moving toward a sustainable future where our oceans are clean and full of life.

Hailing from Bangalore, India, our speaker, Sidhant Gupta, is the founder of Clearbot, an AI-powered, self-navigating boat that can automate marine cleanup, oil clearing, foam removal and other critical maritime tasks without any pollution or manpower requirement. The company is backed by Alibaba, Razer, and Microsoft.

Sidhant holds a Guinness World record for building the fastest robotic fish, done at the University of Hong Kong in 2020. He has spoken at TEDx and started 2 companies prior to Clearbot. Combining his love for robotics and desire to change the world, Sidhant is determined to pioneer a sustainable future for ocean mobility.

To learn more, see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2loLpBhlSw - An introduction Clearbot

https://clearbot.org/ - Website

Watch the video to learn more about Clearbot products:

https://youtu.be/q2loLpBhlSw?si=tNeaXlicAJK_RS2F

As the effects of climate change become more severe and widespread, maintaining personal thermal homeostasis becomes both necessary for survival and increasingly energy intensive.

In principle, advanced textiles and garments have the ability to leverage light absorption, transmission and/or reflection, in addition to straightforward convection, to heat or cool bodies in extreme temperature conditions. For cooling, in particular, surfaces adept at selectively reflecting or refracting high-energy incident light (200 nm - 2.5 microns) from the sun while transmitting or emitting infrared light (8-13 microns) from radiant body heat boast the ability to maintain cooler body temperatures, even when exposed to direct sunlight and the open sky.

I will detail the materials science and engineering advances made in my research lab to develop a durable textile coating that transforms common clothing into implements for passive personal cooling. A polyester poplin fabric finished with a microstructured, lamellar coating comprised of calcium carbonate and barium sulfate shows a cooling ability of up to 8°C compared to an unfinished sample, achieving a maximum cooling of 3.4°C below ambient temperature in optically-complex built environments. Wash and durability testing of the lamellar coating revealed no mechanical degradation and no evident attenuation in the material's performance, affirming its resilience and long-term effectiveness as a functional textile coating for personal cooling.

Professor Trisha L. Andrew (she/her/hers) is a Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

She directs the Wearable Electronics Lab, a multi-disciplinary research team that uses chemical vapor deposition to create a variety of functional coatings on unconventional substrates, such as textiles, yarns and plants, and demonstrates the uses of these coated samples in energy harvesting/storage and integrated sensing systems.

Trisha began her independent career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after receiving her Ph.D. from MIT in 2012, and moved her research program to UMass Amherst in 2016.

She has unconventional training in the disparate fields of synthetic organic chemistry and microelectronic device fabrication that inform her unique problem-solving skills and varied research interests. Trisha is a David and Lucille Packard Foundation Fellow, a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow, an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator, a L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellow, a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award winner, and was named as one Forbes’ magazine “30 Under 30” Innovators in Energy.

To learn more, go to: https://welab.umass.edu

Team 3482 Arrowbotics is a completely student-led after-school robotics club based out of Westmont High School in Campbell, California.

The team competes in FIRST Robotics Competitions against hundreds of other teams with a robot they build in just 8-10 weeks.

Members join the club with little-to-no experience, and by the time the robot needs to be designed, these students are skilled in engineering, communication, and problem-solving.

Mia is the Vice President of Westmont Arrowbotics. She is a Junior at Westmont High School and has been on the team for three years.

To learn more, go to:

Website: team-3482.github.io

Instagram: instagram.com/team_3482

Almost 50 years ago, in the world of wine, there were just three categories: the good stuff (French), the very good stuff (also French), and everything else.

Few doubted that anything could be finer than the vines in Burgundy and Bordeaux, and those at the upper end of wine snobbery were unshakable Francophiles.

And then an event on May 24, 1976—a notable event that would come to be known by the mythical name “The Judgement of Paris”—dramatically changed the way wines were seen and sought. A highly respected British wine seller and educator, Steven Spurrier, organized a blind tasting that put unlabeled French and California whites and reds in front of nine French experts.

This is the story of the changed world since.

Our speaker, George Vierra, spent 45 years in the Napa Valley, the heart of the California wine industry.

He started wineries, managed wineries, consulted around the world, and spent over 35 years as an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Viticulture & Winery Technology at Napa Valley College. He created a website with lectures, papers and research you can see via the links below.

To learn more about George's work, go to:

https://napavalley.academia.edu/GeorgeVierraWine

Here is the script of this talk:

https://tinyurl.com/DrinkingStandingUp

200 million hours are spent by women and children every day collecting water.

UN reports tell how in some countries with crippling water scarcity, girls are spending up to 8 hours a day on the long walk for water.

Unity Water is deploying innovative common-sense solutions to reduce the time spent collecting water and to deliver opportunities for sustainable growth and development. By adding the power of technology, the Unity Water GIS team creates vast StoryMaps that chart, not just the stories of each individual, but allow donors, sponsors and the public to see where every cent is spent, while learning more about the communities that have been helped. This is how Unity Water challenges global water enslavement.

Our speaker, Sarah van Heerden, is a creative professional committed to purpose-driven work and ethical storytelling. Drawing on her 16+ years of NGO and media experience, Sarah is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Unity Water Foundation, a movement focused on addressing global water insecurity and providing development opportunities for communities, especially women and youth, by blending common-sense solutions with the opportunities offered by technology. Sarah believes in the power of NGOs as sustainable investment hubs, and is passionate about realigning the narrative in the NGO space from one of sensationalized despair to one of proactive and empowering citizenship.

She is also the Editor in Chief of the Rotary Africa magazine, where she creatively engages volunteers and aspiring writers to help produce content that resonates with diverse audiences. Sarah has no hobbies as she has yet to learn that she can't save the world, and she keeps volunteering to help on committees and projects which have caught her attention.

For more information: [email protected]

Rolling with Hope campaign: https://donorbox.org/rolling-with-hope

Website: https://www.unitywater.life

Hippo Hub: https://www.hipporollerusa.org/pages/learning

In 2021, freelance journalist Kate Silver got her first assignment for Rotary Magazine: to write about the power of music when it comes to memory, even in those who have Alzheimer’s and dementia. In the years since, Rotary has become a favorite outlet for Kate, because of the rich, inspiring stories and characters she gets to meet, who also happen to be Rotarians.

In this Q and A with Rushton Hurley, Kate will talk about some of the more memorable stories she’s written for the magazine, and why it’s admirable that Rotary invests in good journalism to share the work of its members.

Kate Silver has been writing professionally for more than 20 years. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, O the Oprah Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune and Rotary Magazine. In addition, she works with businesses, non-profits and universities to write content that brings their work—and their mission—to life.

Silver has also ghostwritten several books about individuals and their legacies.

Some of her work can be found at www.thekatesilver.com.

Following the outbreak of World War II, most Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent to one of ten incarceration (internment) camps, one of which was Amache, located in the High Plains of Colorado. Inmates there planted trees and created hundreds of gardens to improve the stark institutional landscape.

This presentation focuses on two Japanese-style gardens created in the public spaces of the Amache incarceration camp, exploring the prospects and application of 3D modeling visualization for these gardens. The presentation was shared at the North American Japanese Garden Association conference in March 2024.

Sayaka, a former Rotary Global Grant Scholar (2019-2022) hosted by the Eugene Metro Rotary Club, was from the Rotary Club of Oita Capital in District 2720, Japan. During her time in Oregon, she pursued a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon.

Currently, Sayaka serves as a Landscape Designer at Pland Collaborative in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she applies her expertise in landscape architecture. Sayaka holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Environmental Science from Nagasaki University and is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree remotely from the same institution, furthering her research and dedication to Japanese gardens in incarceration camps during WWII.

To learn more, go to:

An article titled "Exploration of the Value of Japanese-Style Gardens in Incarceration Camps During World War II: The Case of Amache, Colorado, U.S.," which incorporates the work shared in this presentation, was recently published in the International Journal of Heritage Studies. This article explores the significance of the Japanese-style gardens in the Amache incarceration camp, revealing the value and role these gardens played among Japanese detainees.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2024.2369549

How did two Rotary clubs come together to sink a Mexican Navy ship to create an artificial reef in the Sea of Cortez?

The Rotary clubs of Puebla Gente de Accion and Prescott, Arizona overcame numerous obstacles, created a network of strategic partnerships and implemented a Rotary global grant to improve the health of this vital natural resource. The story is one that centers around friendship.

Kevin Pitts joined the Rotary Club of Prescott, Arizona, in 2004 and has been an active member since, both at the club and district levels. He served as Rotary International District 5495 Governor in 2023-2024.

His experience living in Mexico City over 12 years gives him ties to that country and he has followed that passion, serving as international service chair for his club and as the co-chair of the Mexico USA Friendship Conference and Global Grants Exchange.

Kevin and his wife, Elizabeth, are Rotary Foundation major donors and benefactors. His passion for the Rotary Foundation is focused mostly on global grants and he has participated in numerous projects, often as a technical advisor with his club serving as the international sponsor club. Kevin believes in active participation in grant projects and has visited various project sites in Mexico and Kenya.

To learn more about this story, go to:

https://www.rotary5495.org/stories/rotary-club-of-prescott-participates-in-the-sinking-of-the-suchiate-near-guaymas

Some of the world's most intractable problems – like poor reproductive health and violence against women – are now being addressed through the medium of prime-time serialized dramas.

Population Media Center (PMC) uses a special type of serialized melodrama (like telenovelas) for changing behavior on such issues as family planning, elevation of women's status, girls' education, stopping child marriage, protection of children, and protection of the environment.

Characters in locally written and produced programs on radio, television, and social media evolve into positive role models for the audience and, in the process, lead to population-wide changes in behavior.

Bill Ryerson is founder and president of Population Media Center (PMC). He has a 52-year history of working in the field of reproductive health, including four decades of experience adapting the Sabido methodology of entertainment-education for behavior change communications to various cultural settings worldwide. PMC has broadcast its programs in 57 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the U.S. Bill will speak about the importance and effectiveness of PMC's work, including that of the shows.

Bill is Founder and President of Population Media Center (PMC) (www.populationmedia.org), an organization that strives to improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world through the use of entertainment-education strategies. He also serves as Chair of The Population Institute in Washington, DC (www.populationinstitute.org), which works in partnership with Population Media Center. PMC creates long-running serialized dramas on radio and television, in which characters evolve into role models for the audience resulting in positive behavior change. The emphasis of the organization's work is to educate people about the benefits of small families, encourage the use of effective family planning methods, elevate women's status, prevent exploitation of children, promote avoidance of HIV infection, and promote environmentally sustainable behaviors.

He received a B.A. in Biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Amherst College and an M.Phil. in Biology from Yale University (with specialization in Ecology and Evolution). He served as Director of the Population Institute's Youth and Student Division, Development Director of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Executive Vice President of Population Communications International before founding Population Media Center in 1998.

To learn more, go to:

https://www.populationmedia.org/

Bill's slides: https://tinyurl.com/2fp82fpd