OLLI UM | WINTER 2024
Managing the Transition to EVs: Tales of Countries, Companies, and Engineers Trying to Create the Future February 15, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30am Bruce Belzowski $12 | Speaker will be presenting in-person
Shaking Things Up: About Natural and Anthropogenic Earthquakes and Noise February 8, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30am Ben van der Pluijm $12 | Speaker will be presenting in-person Earthquake prediction? Yes and No. We discuss what earthquakes are, where they occur, and why. We explore earthquake forecasting and the value of modern shake alerts. We also look at human-induced (‘Anthropogenic’) earthquakes, primarily from explosions, fracking and waste fluid injection, and the surprising record of societal vibrations (‘noise’) from day-to-day human activity. Ben van der Pluijm has been Professor in the Dept of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan since 1985. His research areas are Structure and Tectonics, dealing with the geologic evolution of Earth’s crust, from minerals to mountains, and Hazards Geology and Societal Resilience, dealing with the challenges of planet-human interactions. He teaches and lectures about geology and resilience. His research has taken him around the world.
The global automotive industry is in the process of dramatically changing how they develop, manufacture, and sell their products. It’s not a small task to change what you’ve been doing for 100 years, and this talk will take you on a journey from where we are to where we think we want to be. It won’t be easy, and in the end, it won’t be pretty, but we are going to do it anyway, hopefully, for the good of the planet. Bruce M. Belzowski is the Managing Director of the Automotive Futures group. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, respectively. His 25 years studying the global automotive industry at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute focused on a variety of automotive topics. His current research topics at Automotive Futures includes information technology, autonomous vehicles, powertrain strategies, and globalization of the automotive industry. These topics are addressed in Automotive Futures’ five annual conferences that have been held over the past twelve years at the University of Michigan.
THURSDAY LECTURE SERIES
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