MAE Department Seminar: From Fluid Mechanics to Carbon Dynamics

Thursday, November 3rd, 2022, 2:00-3:00pm

Lehman Auditorium SEH B1220

Dr. Simone H. Stewart
Industry Policy Specialist for Climate and Energy Policy
National Wildlife Federation

Abstract

This talk presents an overview of how an experimental investigation of turbulent boundary layer flows arising over arrays of two-dimensional bluff obstacles and a short career at a university democracy center can tie together engineering and equity to manifest a career in the public sector dedicated to combatting the climate crisis and elevating the voices of the disenfranchised. It may seem odd to draw a connection between rough surface fluid mechanics and a historic conservation organization like the National Wildlife Federation, but especially in times of increasing threats like a changing climate, it is important for engineers to think broadly and use interdisciplinary methods to arrive at democratic solutions that benefit society.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and timely applications for plate geometry studies in turbulent boundary layers is that of direct air capture (DAC), which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by taking in ambient air and using chemical processes to separate the CO2. Allowing obstacles to be more densely packed without sacrificing fluxes between the obstacles and overlying flow is particularly important in applications like DAC arrays where the technology will be most successful if the flux exchange between the air in cavities between DACs and the atmosphere above the array is maximized, so as to draw in the most CO2 possible.

Carbon removal and other geoengineering strategies to address the climate crisis are becoming increasingly important conversations, motivated in part by the recent passage of federal legislation, which provide incentives for the build out of this sector. While the original goal of the National Wildlife Federation was to unite the voices of conservationists nationwide, the organization now includes work dedicated to tackling climate issues that threaten wildlife and people. One way this is done is through the organization's work on industrial decarbonization.

Bio

Simone H. Stewart is the industrial policy specialist for Climate and Energy Policy at the National Wildlife Federation, working on carbon capture, utilization, and storage, carbon dioxide removal technologies, and other strategies to decarbonize difficult-to-abate sectors like industry. Simone joined NWF in 2021 after receiving her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and the graduate assistant for the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy.