Organized by assistant professors Shima Nazari of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Matt Ellis of chemical engineering, the event brought together over 100 researchers from Stanford and the UC campuses of Davis, Berkeley, Merced and Santa Cruz, to discuss the current challenges and future directions in automation, systems and controls.

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Sabbie Miller was the featured guest on the National Science Foundation’s Discovery Files podcast, which explores the latest scientific breakthroughs, to discuss her research on next-generation building materials capable of capturing carbon from the air.

The associate dean of research, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and professor of computer science emphasized the crucial role of federal funding for academic research, particularly in this time of developing artificial intelligence. “Without federal funding, we hand over AI dominance to foreign nations,” she said.