Power and Politics in Organizations

Aristotle made the observation that man is a political animal. Engineers often like to think they are above the fray when it comes to organizational politics, but most organizational theorists believe politics is a fundamental dynamic in any group. This paper examines the various ways that people use power within organizations to negotiate the political interactions in the work place.

Energy: the Next Fifty Years

Energy is basic to human society, like food, shelter, communication, and mobility. A new international energy landscape is emerging as developing countries create their energy infrastructures and as energy technologies move away from fossil toward more sustainable sources and uses. The 50-year time scale for significant change to the energy landscape implies that the strategic research and development choices we make now ill determine future energy and societal outcomes. The promising opportunities for science and technology discovery and development in energy will be analyzed in the context of vibrant, interactive and rapidly advancing national and global societies.

High Temperature Superconductivity: Taming Serendipity

A century after the discovery of superconductivity, the design of new and more useful superconductors remains enigmatic. High-temperature super-conductors offer unique solutions to fundamental grid challenges of the 21st century and hold great promise in addressing global energy challenges in energy production, storage, and distribution. Traditionally guided by serendipity, researchers now endeavor to design new superconductors predictively. Advanced experimental techniques, such as point contact spectroscopy measurements, aid in identifying promising candidates.