Professor Claudio Nicolini

After earning his doctoral degree in Nuclear Physics in 1966 from the University of Padua, Dr. Nicolini became an Adjunct Professor at the Univerity of Bari. He worked alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (USA), the Cambridge Group from MIT, and Brown University until 1971. The following year Dr. Nicolini began training and research at Temple University Medical School of Medicine, where he became the Research Associate Professor of Pathology in 1974, and won Tenured Full Professorship and Chair of Biophysics in 1976. He was elected as a foreign member of Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008 and Honoris Causa Professor of Nanobiotechnology and Biophysics in Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2010. Thanks to his outstanding record in science and technology over the last 40 years and with the help of many governments and his personal involvement as the advisor for science and technology to the Italian Prime Minister, tremendous achievements have been made in science and technology in the critical area of biotechnology and nanotechnology. Dr. Nicolini is the author of more than 541 publications in international scientific journals, over 25 books and holds more than 39 WPI patents.

To meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, more aggressive efforts and focus must be taken in developing alternative energy sources to nuclear fission, gas, oil, and coal still dominating the scene worldwide. While artificial photosynthesis and hybrid vehicle technologies are capable of reducing CO₂ emissions, we must enhance biofuels, solar energy, smart grid, geothermal, and wind power to be more effective so that fossil energy can be promptly phased out. Nuclear energy could see a resurgence by reconsidering the improper legal halt to thorium fuels, which is much more abundant than uranium and can be used to use up fissile nuclear materials more completely. Dr. Nicolini will address the current progress after the Paris Agreement and look forward to political and technological strategies to meet its goals. Saving humanity must be a joint effort!

A lunch will be served following the lecture from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.